Nantucket prepares for Earl's wrath

NANTUCKET, Mass. -- Nantucket is expected to get the worst of the storm, where people there will likely see hurricane force winds.

According to officials, a plan has been set since Monday, public beaches have been closed as of noontime, and people are encouraged to have 36 hours worth of medicine, food and water as they ride out the storm.

Nantucket is about to get wacked hard by Earl but the only signs of trouble are long lines of people leaving the island and boarded up homes.

"The waves have picked up, the winds picked up a lot you can tell a storm is coming," said Gregg Lyon, a vacationer.

Stores owners said they're still busy but come Friday they know things will change.

"it looks like it's gonna come close so we figured we’d be safe rather than sorry and board up the windows. We’re gonna put sandbags in the front door and just try to keep everything off the floor in case the water comes up,” said PJ Rubin, a shop owner.

On board the Nantucket, homeowner Paul Kussell said he's ridden out plenty of storms and isn't worried about the one he's heading into.

"I've been on Nantucket for worse storms than this is advertized and we’re sort of used to it over here,” said Kussell.

There are 12,000 residents who live on Nantucket fulltime, and none like the idea of Earl coming to visit.

"A 24 hour period can seem like a week when there’s no stores open and no electricity,” said one woman.

So as they hope for best and prepare for the worst homeowner Ed Scheibel is hoping hurricane Earl's bark is worse than his bite.

"I hope you are making too much out of something. I hope it doesn’t develop into a bad storm where the eye moves over the island and we get the eastern side of that storm, because that’s the most powerful side from what I understand,” said Scheibel.

It’s still unclear when the ferries will stop running. The captain of the Nantucket said several people will be making that decision, which won’t be happening until sometime on Friday.

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