"This One Feels Very Different:" Floridians Are Sharing The Reality Of Evacuating For Hurricane Milton
by Angelica Martinez · BuzzFeedHurricane Milton — a currently Category 3 hurricane headed toward the Tampa Bay region of Florida — is expected to make landfall in the state tonight. It comes on the heels of Hurricane Helene, a Category 4 hurricane that hit the Big Bend area of Florida just two weeks ago.
In the past 48 hours, Hurricane Milton went from a tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane. Currently, it is slated to make landfall as a Category 3.
As residents of Tampa and surrounding cities made the difficult decision to leave their homes and move to safety, redditor u/Nirntendo asked them to share their first-hand experiences evacuating. As someone from the other side of the country who's never been in a hurricane, it's eye-opening to read the reality of what it's like on the ground. Here's what 13 Floridians shared about what it's actually like:
1. "I'm located in the Tampa Bay area, six miles from the coast. They evacuate by flood zones and type of residence here — if you are A or B, you are in a low-lying coastal area with under 10 feet of sea level elevation and are under mandatory evacuation. If you are C in some places, it's mandatory. Any mobile homes or trailer parks are under mandatory notice to evacuate, but some are not leaving. Police are going door to door. I'm in Zone C in Pasco County, and it's voluntary here. We are currently out of the cone, ever so slightly out. The track bumped north all night after bumping south, so we could be back in it at any time. We are not leaving, but my wife knows she can take off at any time if she wants, and I'll watch things here."
"Typical prep stuff going on here. Moving the cars toward the house, boarding up windows, getting loose stuff inside so it does not fly away. Getting fuel and food over the last week was pretty intense, and I've been here a long time. Because of Helene, you can't buy an empty gas can, garbage can, or garbage bags around where I am. We are still recovering from a big storm (Helene), and those resources have not caught up yet to be replenished enough to prep. There is no wood available.
It seems like my whole street is staying, and everyone is just walking around aimlessly. No stores are open today, so no one is working. It's actually kind of a nice day outside when it doesn't rain a little. Calm before the storm."
2. "Interstates were bumper to bumper northbound all day Monday and Tuesday. They opened up the shoulders and, in some cases, turned southbound lanes into extra northbound lanes. I left Tampa for Orlando late Tuesday night, and I-4 was pretty clear by then. Gas is hard to find in some isolated areas, but it sounds like there's plenty on the evacuation routes, just long lines at the pumps. Most people are complying with the evacuation orders. It's been slow but orderly. It took my parents 10 hours to get to South Carolina, and that's usually a five-hour drive. It's just a lot of people to move. Evacuation taking only twice as long as normal traffic is actually really good, though."
"Yes, Orlando is also in the path, but it's less prone to flash flooding here, and I have a generator which I don't have at home. My parents have an RV, so they evacuated out of state with that yesterday morning, and I'm staying at their place. I should be fine here. The biggest worry is tornados rolling through this afternoon, but there's really no dodging those anyway."
3. "St. Petersburg resident here. Honestly, the evacuation wasn't horrible. I ended up going to Orlando. Still in the path of the storm, but should be much less intense. The worst part of all of this is the dread. There's such a heavy grief and sadness in St. Petersburg, and it was really hard to leave knowing I might be coming back to a disaster. I might come back to find my whole home and all my things gone. I'm glad I'll be safe and physically sound, but I'm already mourning the city that I love so much and all the beautiful people that live there."
4. "This one feels very different. I’m inland by Orlando, so my experience has been more people heading this way. Resources are strapped. No gas, shelves are empty. It’s pretty bad. The worst part is the information train. It’s hard to differentiate information. This storm is moving quickly, and it is yet to de-intensify. It would be really nice for this thing to slow down. This storm is very scary. You can FEEL it. I pray for the West Coast of Florida and everyone in Milton’s path. Let us all hope this storm de-escalates as expected. Stay safe, everyone, and listen to yourself and the official messaging. Do not play games with this! A Category 5/4/3 is no joke! Even a Category 1 can be no joke."
5. "Currently sheltering in place at my grandmother's house in Clearwater, Florida. I tried every tactic in the book to try to get my parents and grandmother to leave. If I had left them here on their own and something bad happened, they would not be able to take care of themselves. So, I'm risking my life and hoping that we all don't die. We have everything boarded up, water is frozen, and every other jar and pot we have in the house is full. Fingers crossed."
6. "Sarasota, checking in here. It wasn’t too terrible getting out. I’m in Zone A and just went to a friend's place inland. This was before it became a direct hit for Sarasota. Anyway, I live on a barrier island 10’ above sea level. I am fully prepared for my house to be entirely underwater after this."
7. "South Tampa, Florida, checking in. I lost almost everything, including my car, in Hurricane Helene. I stayed in my apartment up until Monday. I’m in Zone A, which means mandatory evacuation. I took all that I had left and what could fit in my car. I had to leave some things behind. My cat and I are at a hotel, hopefully safe. Not entirely sure what or where my next move is. It’s a scary, confusing, exhausting time."
8. "My mom's pretty close to the path. She's hunkered down with her dog. All the windows are hurricane-rated, she's got a new-ish roof that's up to the latest code, and there's a whole-house generator with a buried propane tank to power it. She's outside the mandatory evacuation zone, and the local shelter is only, like, 300 yards away, anyway. She's close to the highest point in the county. Fingers crossed."
9. "I’m in SW Florida, but inland (non-evac zone, 100’ above sea level). My area is safe enough that we have shelters here for some evacuees, so we are at home, prepped to shelter in place. A lot of people unfamiliar with Florida think we all (in the forecast cone) need to evacuate, but we don’t. The evac zones exist for a reason: so the high-risk areas can evacuate in time and not have to compete with millions of extra people from low-risk areas. Many of my friends live in evac Zones A/B and already evacuated between yesterday and today. Traffic was bad, 10-hour drives due to gridlock. There are gas shortages, and hotels are fully booked. Right now, it’s just an eerie calm and waiting game. I've lived through a couple of hurricanes, and this is the first time I’m genuinely concerned."
10. "I live in Tampa, and I'm in Zone A. My husband and I evacuated out of state with our dogs and important items. I parked my car at my friend’s parking garage on the sixth floor to avoid flooding, and we drove his car out. We left around 4:30 a.m. on Tuesday, so there was no extensive traffic. There were some pockets of slowdown, but no real gridlock, luckily. I’m glad we are safe, but I am sick to my stomach over what’s going to happen to our community."
11. "My family and I had been at Disney World since Saturday. Everything was business as usual there, aside from some rainy moments. We managed to move our flights pretty easily and departed yesterday (Tuesday) night at about 8 p.m. I was surprised to hear from many other resort-goers that they were just planning to ride out the storm there. People and their Disney hopes and dreams can’t be squashed by a historical hurricane, evidently. Wild."
12. "Orlando here. Gas is scarce and store shelves are looking pretty bare, but the roads around here are quiet and mostly empty. Surrounding counties have issued evacuation orders for residents in mobile homes, trailers, tiny homes, and similar structures. Our main concerns in this area are potential power outages, flooding, and debris. For context, I’ll be at work today until early afternoon, and I know several others who will be working until 8 p.m. tonight."
—M0FB
13. "Not many stations with fuel here in Gainesville due to evacuation traffic. We have to constantly remind family and friends from out of state that there's little sense in evacuating from where we live. We'd only get in the way of people who need to, and would needlessly be using resources that others can use."
Are you a Florida resident who has evacuated for Hurricane Milton? If so, we are keeping you in our thoughts! If you feel comfortable, you can share your evacuation story in the comments below or via this anonymous form.
Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.