Minnesotans make Florida exodus as Hurricane Milton approaches
MINNEAPOLIS — Hurricane Milton is predicted to make landfall on Thursday at 2 a.m.
Several Minnesotans and Wisconsinites caught last-minute flights out Tuesday from Orlando and Fort Myers in Florida.
"I was like, 'OK, this one's coming right for our path. There's no reason why I should stay,'" said Taylor Johnson, who's from Chanhassen and lives in Naples, Florida.
Traffic was slowed to a crawl near Naples. Treasure Island near Tampa looked like a ghost town.
Jim Jurgens and his wife already had plans to fly into the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport for a family reunion in Maple Grove, but the storm complicated their travel.
"They closed the Tampa airport so our flight got canceled, so consequently we got up real early this morning in the dark and drove to Orlando and we were lucky to get a flight on Sun Country," Jurgens said.
Tampa's mayor, Jane Castor, hammered home the severity of Hurricane Milton on Tuesday.
"If you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you're going to die," Castor said.
Evacuees had work to do though before flying out.
"Everything has to come in from around the pool area, your garbage cans, your cars," said Sue Torza, who splits her time between Cape Coral, Florida and Long Lake, Wisconsin. "You have to remove every tree limb that could possibly come through your windows."
Johnson said the Walmart near her home was cleared out.
"We went to the other grocery stores. It's a mess," she said. "It looks like an apocalypse has taken place. There's no necessities left."
Everyone on the incoming flights will watch the storm hit their homes Wednesday night from a distance, helpless but safe.
"They just started cleaning up, you know, and now for this to happen again, it's really sad," Jurgens said.
"It's honestly heartbreaking," Johnson said. "I was on a flight with a lot of retired people. You could see people's faces, they just look sad."