Floridians are preparing for their second hurricane in just three weeks, and the stress and uncertainty of facing consecutive storms are weighing heavily on them.
Hurricane Milton is anticipated to make landfall later on Wednesday, Oct. 9, after rapidly intensifying as it traversed the Gulf of Mexico this week, according to forecasters.
Residents along Florida’s Gulf Coast are still recovering from Hurricane Helene, which struck the Big Bend region as a Category 4 storm in late September, leaving streets littered with debris.
Now, as those in the Tampa Bay area are urged to evacuate or prepare to take shelter, Floridians express their mounting anxiety.
“It’s scary,” Angelina Stow told USA Today at a gas station in Fort Valley, Georgia. “We don’t know what’s going to happen. We’re kind of blind right now.”
Renae Davis, a resident of St. Petersburg, shared her emotional reaction upon learning about the impending storm.
“When the storm was projected to hit us directly, I had a few good crying sessions, just getting ready to come back to nothing,” she said.
