Consulting those affected by Hurricane Milton

Hurricane Milton made landfall on Siesta Key Wednesday afternoon, 70 miles south of Tampa. Millions are without power, including meteorologist Sabrina Ullman’s grandfather, Jerry.

He lives in an assisted living facility in Lakeland, an hour east of Tampa. Hurricane Milton was a Category Three when it made landfall, but weakened to a Category 1 storm as it passed through Lakeland.

“Everything’s back to normal except the power. Other than the power, we can’t go down to the mess hall to eat, you know, so we’re getting boxed meals. Of course they’re not hot. It’s food. We’re not going to die hungry,” said Jerry. “They’re doing the best they can, you know. I don’t blame them. I won’t criticize them. But, you know, they seem to be doing things pretty well in order. It’s just, you know, the hassles of the storm.

The worst case scenario for Hurricane Milton would have been a direct hit on Tampa. Sabrina’s close friend Maggie Sills lives in Tampa and works at a hospital there. With an evacuation order in their area, Maggie, her boyfriend Chase, and their dogs Ollie and Maple evacuated to Chase’s parents’ house in Orlando.

“I think in hindsight, in 2020, we probably would have been fine. But from all the ring cam footage and stuff, we would have been stuck,” Maggie said. “So if we had made the decision wrong we wouldn’t have been able to leave so I think it’s best we left just in case but the storm was awful last night even in Orlando so I can’t imagine it here “.

They came home Thursday, only to find a small leak. A trip that usually takes two hours took about four.

“A lot of people were driving on the sidewalk like they were doing the extra lane to get home. Oh, it was awful,” Maggie said. “A lot of flooding on the way home, we took a wrong turn and had to turn around because there were downed wires and there was such bad flooding.”

Maggie says she doesn’t know anyone in her area who has power. He returned to work Thursday night as part of the hospital’s recovery team.

Meanwhile, Jerry keeps things normal by finding a way to read, even as the sun goes down.

“What I’ll do, not far from you as an elevator, and they have lights there all the time,” Jerry said. “If they’re still on after dark, I’ve got a chair set up, my wheelchair. I’ll take it over there with a book to read. Otherwise, I’m going crazy sitting here, you know, in the dark.”