Hurricane Milton: Hear from St Petersburg, Orlando residents: 'It's really blowing up'
PHILADELPHIA - A number of Florida residents were riding out Hurricane Milton, despite its wrath.
"It’s really blowing up right now. It’s blowing toward the beach," Marlene Simmens said.
She was showing the drenching rain and whipping winds outside the window of her sister’s condo on Boca Ceiga Bay, in St. Petersburg. "I just have to pray that everyone is safe. That's the most important thing.," she said.
Hurricane Milton update: Category 3 storm makes landfall in Florida with powerful winds, severe storm surge
Hurricane Milton has made landfall along Florida’s Gulf Coast as a powerful Category 3 storm, bringing life-threatening winds and a severe storm surge.
Marlene, formerly of the Philadelphia area, lives two buildings over from her sister, but thought it was safer to ride out the storm together.
"First of all, I have nowhere to go," Marlene explained. "I was in a condo by myself for 16 years, since my husband passed. I’ve never evacuated. Now, Helene was pretty bad, but we got through."
Just outside Orlando, the winds picked up and rain was torrential. Josh Cotton said, "The biggest concern is the tornadoes. Tornadoes. It’s the most concerning. Right now, we’ve had multiple sightings in Florida."
Video: Florida traffic camera captured tornado as Hurricane Milton impacts state
A live camera from the Florida Department of Transportation spotted a confirmed tornado on the ground Wednesday morning in South Florida as Hurricane Milton barrels toward the state.
Josh and his neighbor, Maria Degnan, live in Winter Garden. They are not under a mandatory evacuation order, but they prepared for Milton’s impact.
Degnan stated, "We are worried about losing power. We stocked up and loaded the freezer with ice, so if we lose power, our food will last. Filled the bathtub with water, so we have water to flush the toilet if we lose water."
They also have a little trick – they put pool noodles inside the vents on top of the roof to keep water from running into the attic. Josh said, "The winds blow at 120 miles per hour and the rain blows sideways. It’ll go through anything to get into the house. This is something neighbors do every time we have a big storm. We all just work together."
Maria added, "You just hope for the best."
Lots of folks are hoping for the best, but prepared for the worst.