Facing Hurricane Milton: Floridians and Minnesotans share stories of escape and resilience
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Wednesday is a day full of anxiety and uncertainty for Florida residents who are trying to get out of the Tampa Bay area ahead of Hurricane Milton’s landfall by the evening. It will be the second hurricane to hit the state in two weeks.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz signed an emergency executive order authorizing the Minnesota National Guard to assist in Florida. “In this time of crisis, Minnesota’s first responders have demonstrated unyielding dedication. Their efforts are making a critical difference,” Walz said in a statement.
Captain Brooke Majchrzak from the Minnesota National Guard and her search and recovery mission team members are on their way to Florida and will work with the Florida National Guard, the Minnesota Joint Operations Center and others to help areas where the most relief is needed.
“We’re here to support, and just remember: We are a citizen force. We live here, we work here, we serve here. We’re your neighbors, community members, family and friends. We also support and defend our great nation,” Majchrzak told MPR News.
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Stories from our readers
Many Minnesotans are transplants, snowbirds or just have a vacation home in the Sunshine State.
Virginia LeBlanc is a Minnesotan who owns a house in ChampionsGate, Fla. Despite living 50 miles inland from the Tampa area her family insisted for her to leave. She ended up booking one of the last available plane seats Tuesday morning.
“I am at our Minnesota house this morning and feeling grateful to be here,” she told MPR News.
Katy Buytaert from Cloquet is a mother of two University of Tampa students, 19 and 21. She told MPR News how worried she is about the situation and hopes to see her kids soon.
“We are waiting to see what happens, but we likely will be heading down to get the kids from Tallahassee and return them to their places and see what happened in Tampa,” wrote Buytaert.
‘We’re going to trust our home builder’
While thousands of Floridians are fleeing for shelter, others prefer to stay home. Melissa Coon is a former Minnesotan from Chaska who moved to Florida three years ago. Coon is living in the Cape Coral area which is just outside of Fort Myers, and decided not to evacuate amid gridlock and gas shortages.
“We weighed the idea of, ‘Do we want to get stuck in traffic and have the storm hit and not have anywhere to go? Or do we say: OK, we’re going to trust our home builder,’” Coon told Morning Edition.
“We actually moved in about six weeks after Hurricane Ian, so this house has been tested. It is hurricane-rated. We have hurricane-impact windows. And so we decided to ride it out. We’re not in an evacuation zone, and I’m not in a flood zone.“
Coon invested in a generator and have stocked up on essentials, including a camping stove.
“Just pray for us and know that we come from a hearty stock so us Midwesterners will persevere.”
‘I think next October I’ll stay in Minnesota‘
Plans for some Minnesotans who were visiting Florida for vacation were interrupted. St. Paul resident Tim Dykstal drove down to Florida to stay in a shared family condo and play golf in Palm Harbor, about a mile inland from the coast.
With Hurricane Milton approaching the coast he needed to leave the condo and is taking shelter in a hotel in Orlando to ride out the storm. Dykstal says it was hard to find gas and accommodations, but he eventually secured a three-night stay.
“It was very hard. I looked around North of Tampa — that seemed to be the smartest place to go, but all the hotels were booked … Finally, I did find this place in southwest Orlando that had three nights consecutive. I’m going to stay here through Thursday, I think, and then try to head back,“ Dykstal told MPR News.
Dykstal said the hotel staff has advised guests about power outages and property damage, but no evacuation plans are in place.
“I was thinking that the next October, I’m going to stay in Minnesota because October is a beautiful month to be in Minnesota — and nice month to be in Florida except for the hurricanes.”