Locals on Florida’s Gulf Coast still reeling from Helene are expressing their fears over Milton’s landfall, forecast to bring double the storm surge and even stronger winds that could turn flying debris into “weapons.”
Robert Zastudil told NBC affiliate WFLA of Tampa that locals are “scared, but they don’t want to go.”
“We want to leave, but we really want to stay. We’re being told that we need to leave, but we’re scared. Are we making the right decision?” he said. “I think Florida has been dodging stuff like this for years and it’s just our time now.”
Another local, Reece Atilla, said Helene was enough to shake him. “At one point there, I was on the roof and saw the water coming from here. I thought of Katrina. I’m like ‘Oh my God. This is real,’” he told the affiliate.
Atilla says it’s still worth evacuating, despite the damage Milton could bring to homes. “You can replace cars, you can replace homes, but you’re not going to replace your life or loved ones,” he said.
Meanwhile in St. Petersburg, mandatory evacuations are in place as winds over 100 mph are forecast to hit the area, in addition to storm surge.
Ariel Dalmou said he and his family escaped Helene when floodwaters reached the bottom of the home’s windows.
“We escaped by the side window, I had two kayaks there,” Dalmau told WFLA. “We went all the way to, next to Taco Bell.”
However, yesterday there was still much debris from Helene yet to be removed from his neighborhood. “All this garbage out here [is] going to be like a weapon for this hurricane,” Dalmau said.
Evacuations are still underway before Milton makes landfall. In Clearwater, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office issued a purple alert for missing man Robert Shank, 58, last seen early this morning around 1. a.m. in the backyard of his home.