(CNN) Some 7.5 million Americans in the Great Lakes are under threat of gale force winds and flooding.

Don't go in the water. Don't even go near the water.

That's the message that authorities are telling lakeshore residents of Lake Michigan, Lake Huron and Lake Erie.

It's all thanks to a weather system roaring through the region on Thursday and Friday bringing gale force wind gusts and rain to the region.

The situation along the lakeshore is made even more dangerous by the water in the lakes being already at near-record high levels. That's from all the rain and snow that's fallen in the last 12 months.

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