The cleanup is just beginning for those impacted by Hurricane Milton, and we checked in Thursday with Connecticut natives who now live in Florida.
The cleanup is just beginning for those impacted by Hurricane Milton, and we checked in Thursday with Connecticut natives who now live in Florida.
Some chose to ride out the storm inside their homes, others evacuated earlier in the week.
“This one was definitely no joke,” said Kristin Guillemette, of Winter Garden. “There were some wind gusts up over 100 miles an hour. About 2 a.m. to like 4:30 this morning is when it was definitely the worst. I mean, you could hear the wind howling, creaking.”
Guillemette is originally from Burlington, Connecticut. She said her home has minor damage, but hearing the wind overnight was terrifying.
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“It sounded like there was gonna be roofs taken off and things,” she said.
Parts of her neighborhood are without power, trees are down, and debris is everywhere.
“The whole neighborhood -- we were all are exhausted this morning. No one slept. Everyone was texting ‘Are you OK? Are you OK?’”
Those who evacuated are grateful they did, like Mikayla Binck. She lives in St. Petersburg, and drove hours to Atlanta to get a flight out to Connecticut. Once back in the state, she waited out the storm at her grandmother’s home in Shelton.
“I've lived in Florida since 2017, and I've never evacuated for any of the storms. But this one was different,” she said. “I’m really happy I evacuated.”
Binck’s home that she rents is now covered in debris and has no power or water, her neighbors tell her. She’s a single mother to a 6-year-old boy, and is grateful to still have a home to go back to.
“I don't know what I would do. I would probably have to move back to Connecticut, and I built my life in Florida,” she said.
Lisa Moccia, of Stamford, said her parents made it through the storm in Port Charlotte. She was worried about them living on the west coast in an evacuation zone.
“Everything went well. They lost power for about 10-12 hours, and they just got it back today. No damage, no flooding. So everything kind of worked out for them,” she said. “I didn't really sleep. I kind of kept getting up checking.”
