BOSTON — Many people flew into Boston on Tuesday to catch the last flight out of Florida before Hurricane Milton hit.
“If you have somewhere to go, just get out of town,” said Joseph Rubin, who flew in from Fort Myers.
“We live in a flood zone, and when we saw the path of the hurricane, we knew we had to evacuate immediately,” St. Pete resident Ryan Aravind said.
Many of them have secured their homes and are doing the best they can while staying with family and friends in the Boston area.
“We pull down the shutters, lock the doors, expect power outages, and pray for no flooding or wind damage,” Rubin said.
“We brought everything inside, we brought everything from the first floor to the second floor. It’s only about 11 feet above sea level, so there’s a lot of preparation,” said Scott McDonald, a Tampa native.
Many Florida residents are not taking any chances, having already experienced the devastation of Hurricane Helen just a few weeks ago.
“What we weren’t prepared for was the height of the waves. We’d never seen anything like it,” said the Westwood native who moved to St. Pete Beach several years ago. Margaret Donabed said.
Helen had just finished renovating her home, which had been two years in the making, when the accident occurred.
“You can see the line where the water came up on the wall, and from there the water calmed down and started going down. We were 18 to 20 inches deep,” Donnabed said.
She said the house was gutted as furniture floated in the water.
All of her neighbors had to vacate their homes, with debris still lying on the sidewalks.
Now she’s worried about where everything will go if Milton attacks.
“Tomorrow and the day after tomorrow we’re going to have 15 feet of water and everything in front of everyone’s houses is floating in the water and the water is going to come through all the houses,” Donabed said.
Many people are worried about their homes in Florida, but the priority right now is to evacuate and get out safely, so those who arrived in Boston by plane are glad they got there before Milton hit. I think it was good.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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