Storm-dazed residents from the western portion of the state have been pouring into local hotels in anticipation of Hurricane Milton’s imminent wrath.
Evacuees from Tampa to Dunedin are filling up rooms in several areas, with many of them seeking refuge in St. Augustine.
Retired teacher Guadalupe Eickhoff of St. Petersburg told The Citizen that she already suffered through Hurricane Helene and that her home is still ringed with mountainous debris.
“We’re in St. Augustine because it was a mandatory evacuation for our area,” she said. “We got hit by Helene and so we just wanted to play it safe. Let’s follow the orders.”
Several Milton migrants said they were startled to learn that their choice of safe haven was now under an evacuation order itself — but that they felt far safer up north regardless.
Eickhoff said she initially booked an Airbnb in the Old City — but that the owner considerately volunteered that it was in an area vulnerable to flooding.
Not wanting to have to flee twice for one hurricane, she rebooked a local hotel near the St. Augustine Premium Outlets, which was sold out with many fellow evacuees.
Eickhoff, who traveled to St. Augustine with her husband and Maltese dog, said she first considered Ocala, but the area was fully booked.
The couple fled south during prior storms, but reversed course this time because they felt it would be easier to return to St. Petersburg once the threat recedes.
Asked if weather worries ever made her consider moving out of state, Eickhoff shrugged.
“No,” she said. “We’re Floridians.”
After escaping north from Bradenton, retired physician and professor Carlos Santo nursed a lager on the porch of Ann O’Malley’s in St. Augustine.
“I don’t even drink beer,” he said, as his pooch, Sophie, rested at his feet. “But I needed to chill.”
Santo said Helene “trashed” his home and it’s no longer habitable. He’s been forced to couch surf in his local area for days with friends.
Once Hurricane Milton began to roll up its sleeves, he opted to make a nearly four-hour drive to St. Augustine.
Despite the palliative effects of his beverage, recent circumstances had extinguished much of Santo’s optimism moving forward.
Asked if he was worried about what remains of his Bradenton home, he didn’t hesitate.
“This one is much worse,” he said. “It’s going to do us in.”
Others sought safety in three local shelters opened up by St. Johns County to house residents concerned about Milton’s cocked fist.
Julie Brown, along with her husband, carried several bags into a general population shelter inside Pedro Menendez High School Wednesday morning.
She only lived 10 minutes away, but said the grounds underneath her trailer were completely saturated.
“I think the trailer will still be there,” she said. “But just in case I didn’t want a tree to land on me. The ground is so wet, the trees are going to come down worse than they had before.”
Brown, who works for UPS, previously lived in Daytona and suffered through Hurricane Matthew in 2016
“It was a disaster,” Brown recalled before carrying her belongings into the shelter.
Jacob Robertson played with his companion, McDuffie, outside the county’s pet friendly shelter at South Woods Elementary School.
Pets have to stay in a separate room unless they’re service animals, and he wasn’t quite ready to part with her before heading inside.
