Amid urgent warnings, some Floridians evacuate while others brace for Hurricane Milton
FLORIDA – With family and friends often scattered around the country, hurricanes – on any coast – remind us of how closely we are connected during a crisis.
As Hurricane Milton barrels toward Florida, the warnings are especially dire.
Dave Jordan decided to take no chances.
"I'm worried a lot about the loss of life," said Jordan. "Just the loss of resources."
Jordan, who lives north of Tampa, said he was preparing to ride out the storm when a warning from Tampa's mayor made him reconsider.
"Jane Castor went on television this past weekend and told people, 'If you are in a mandatory evacuation area or a low-lying area, and you do not evacuate, you will die… You will die,'" he said.
On Tuesday, Jordan loaded his car and headed north to Atlanta. He said he was glad he already had a full tank of gas, as many stations were already out of fuel. Even away from the storm surge, he said the aftermath of Hurricane Helene is also a factor.
"So you still have a lot of debris in some areas of Tampa Bay, and that debris could now become projectiles and become dangerous," Jordan said. "So even if you're not subjected to the flooding, you could be hit in the head with something that's flying off the ground that hasn't been collected. So those are some of the things that concern me."
Melissa Cartier shared those concerns but decided to stay put.
"The house that we live in will withstand a Category 4 hurricane," Cartier said. "And I have three large dogs that are hard to transport, or, you know, bring with you, and I'm not leaving my pets behind."
So, she's done her best to prepare.
"Got our generator ready, extension cords ready, filled up jugs with water just in case we lose power and we need water," Cartier said. "Made sure that we had every essential thing that I could think of."
Cartier said they have plenty of fuel and even froze bags of water to keep refrigerated items cool when the power goes out. Still, she admitted that she was worried when the storm began intensifying.
"Absolutely horrified when it was a five," said Cartier.
She said she is feeling less anxious as the storm weakens from worst-case predictions.
"You know, the next six hours are gonna be rough," Cartier said. "The next 12 will be even rougher. We're in for no sleep tonight… I will be up making sure that our house is good, we are good, and I can sleep when this hurricane is over."
Until then, she said she's asking for prayers "for everybody in the state of Florida."