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Isla del Sol, Florida
CNN
—
With the rain already slicing diagonals into the water off this transformed mangrove island in St. Petersburg, Vivienne Marran stood firm in her choice.
“We can ride it out,” she told CNN less than 20 hours before Hurricane Milton was due to smash in from the Gulf of Mexico not too far from here down Florida’s western shore.
“The alternatives weren’t too inviting, you know?” Marran explained Wednesday morning from the condo complex just off Tampa Bay where two weeks ago she rode out Hurricane Helene as it left 20 Floridians dead, countless others scrambling for shelter and a vast trail of debris Milton now threatened to use as a missile depot.
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“I mean, they tell us we’ve only got to go 20 miles” inland, she said. “But because of the last storm, there’s nowhere to go, really. I mean, I guess they’ve got evacuation places, but we’ve been through a lot of these, and it’s a concrete building, and I just feel safer here than elsewhere.”
Nearly 7.3 million Floridians live in 15 counties with mandatory evacuation orders. But even as officials kept begging people to leave coastal areas – “You need to help us by evacuating,” Tampa Fire Rescue’s chief pleaded Wednesday morning, adding, “I’ve never seen anything of this magnitude” – a subset of residents across Florida’s western edge were staying put.
Some of their neighbors already had left, packing bridges and highways to get away from storm surge zones forecast to flood up to 15 feet. But these holdouts and others had weighed factors – from the availability of gas and the cost and relative safety of inland hotels to the headache of getting back to possibly-swamped properties – and opted against evacuation.
There also was Milton’s uncertain track, with forecasters warning the major hurricane could wobble seemingly without warning, shifting its landfall target and thus its path across the Peninsula.
“I can’t tell you how many times that people have left here for previous storms and ended up in it,” Marran said.
For others, another evacuation two weeks after Helene – and deep into the 2024 hurricane season – simply was too much.
“It’s, like, PTSD,” said Holly Speckhart, who planned to weather Milton with Marran in their five-story building while watching Tampa Bay Rays baseball, sipping a Modelo, resting on inflatable mattresses in an interior hallway and, if needed, escaping the worst in an interior stairwell.
Julio Cortez/AP
Traffic flows east Tuesday along Interstate 4 as residents continue to follow evacuation orders ahead of Hurricane Milton.
“All my friends are mad at me from Ohio,” added Speckhart, a Cincinnati native. “They keep calling me, saying, ‘You’re gonna die.’ And then you got (Tampa Mayor) Jane Castor saying, ‘If you don’t get out, you’re gonna die.’
“But … if Tampa would get it, I mean, you figure, what are they gonna be, 12 to 15 feet? I mean, that could be two stories,” the fourth-floor-dweller said of the potential surge. Their building’s top floors are much higher than that, she went on, and some units have hurricane shutters and windows.
“My biggest thing is: I don’t want to leave,” Speckhart concluded. “I just see what happens in a week. You know, you got mold, you got damage. I figure I can be here.”
Some 100 miles south on Sanibel Island – devastated by 2022’s Hurricane Ian – Bridgit Stone-Budd also didn’t want to abandon her property and so planned to ride out Milton in the home on raised supports, she told CNN.
“I think the most important thing is we know we won’t be able to get back,” she said Wednesday morning. “That’s the No. 1 reason.”
Indeed, the city of Sanibel issued an evacuation order, with those who stay subject to a 24-hour curfew.
Also part of Stone-Budd’s calculus: Her house did not flood in prior hurricanes, she said, though she allowed that was no guarantee of safety.
“If we were to lose a pylon and the house wasn’t sturdy,” she said, “that scares me the most.”
Elsewhere along Florida’s west coast, neighborhoods had gone quiet by midday Wednesday as inland shelters filled up, barrier island bridges shut down and tornadoes from then-Category 4 Milton began spinning up on land.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
A cyclist navigates a damaged road in Manasota Key, Florida, on October 13.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
A vehicle is stuck in beach sand in Manasota Key.
Rebecca Blackwell/AP
A man peers into the remains of a home in Englewood, Florida, on October 13.
Rebecca Blackwell/AP
A family walks back up a sand-coated street after checking on their storm-damaged home in Manasota Key on October 12.
Rebecca Blackwell/AP
A toppled tree lies on a home on Manasota Key on October 12.
Crystal Vander Weit/TCPalm/USA Today Network/Imagn Images
Connie Gore, left, is comforted by her friend and neighbor Cecelia Smith on October 11 after a tornado caused by Hurricane Milton devastated her home in Martin County, Florida.
Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo/AFP/Getty Images
Houses sit destroyed in Port St Lucie, Florida, on October 11 after a tornado hit the area and caused severe damage as the hurricane swept through.
Rebecca Blackwell/AP
Robert Turick stands in one of his home's bedrooms, where the high water mark from Hurricane Milton can be seen on the wall in Englewood. A small positive, Turick said, is that he hadn't yet begun repairs after Hurricane Helene brought 3-foot floodwaters. He, his daughter and his dog were staying elsewhere when Milton flooded his home around to 5 feet.
Cristobal Herrera-Ulashkevich/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
A rescue team checks a damaged property in Manasota Key on October 11.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
A person walks through a flooded street in New Port Richey, Florida, on October 11.
Rebecca Blackwell/AP
The rails of a pool ladder are all that is visible of a pool that was filled with sand after the passage of Hurricane Milton in Venice, Florida.
Julio Cortez/AP
This bridge in Riverview, Florida, was damaged by Milton.
Giorgio Viera/AFP/Getty Images
A man cleans debris inside a gas station in Lakewood Park, Florida, on October 10. A tornado caused by Milton hit the area.
Rebecca Blackwell/AP
A tree toppled by the storm lies atop a home in Siesta Key, Florida, on October 10.
Ricardo Arduengo/Reuters
Boats are piled up on a pier after they were washed ashore when Milton passed through Punta Gorda, Florida, on October 10.
Andrew West/The News-Press/USA Today Network/Imagn Images
Liz Kelly and her son Matt salvage items from their destroyed home in North Fort Myers, Florida, on October 10. A tornado associated with Hurricane Milton ripped through their neighborhood. Matt dove on top of his mother as the roof was peeling off the home. She says he saved her life.
Chandan Khanna/AFP/Getty Images
A vehicle drives though a flooded street in Siesta Key on October 10.
Nadia Zomorodian/Daytona Beach News-Journal/USA Today Network/Reuters
Members of the Volusia Sheriff's Office rescue residents from a flooded area of South Daytona, Florida.
Rebecca Blackwell/AP
A house lies toppled off its stilts after Milton passed through Florida's Bradenton Beach.
Julio Cortez/AP
The roof of Tropicana Field, destroyed by Milton, was shredded in St. Petersburg. Tropicana Field is the home of Major League Baseball’s Tampa Bay Rays.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Austin Stolpe clears mud from the floor of the Celtic Ray Public House after it was inundated with floodwaters in Punta Gorda.
Julio Cortez/AP
People look at an uprooted tree in Odessa, Florida, on October 10.
Sean Rayford/Getty Images
A man cleans sand off a beach-side condominium unit in Venice.
Marta Lavandier/AP
Cars move slowly through Matlacha, Florida, after Hurricane Milton damaged power lines.
Jefferee Woo/Tampa Bay Times via AP
A person rides a bicycle past a damaged building in the Palmetto Beach neighborhood of Tampa on October 10.
Cristobal Herrera-Ulashkevich/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
A boat and debris are seen along a road in Bradenton, Florida.
Sean Rayford/Getty Images
People walk near damaged beachside property in Venice on October 10.
Tampa Bay Times/AP
The building that houses the Tampa Bay Times newspaper was damaged when a construction crane fell during the storm in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty Images
People are rescued from an apartment complex in Clearwater on October 10.
Chris Urso/Tampa Bay Times/AP
Debris clogs a roadway in Siesta Key on October 10.
NOAA
A satellite image captures Hurricane Milton reaching the coast of Florida on October 9.
Marco Bello/Reuters
A man in Sarasota, Florida, records the storm as it makes landfall on October 9.
Rebecca Blackwell/AP
The Segundo family, who evacuated from nearby Davis Island, plays a board game at a hotel in Tampa on October 9.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Brandon Marlow walks through a flooded street in Fort Myers, Florida, on October 9.
Bill Ingram/Palm Beach Post/USA Today Network via Reuters
Marie Cook reacts to her damaged home after a tornado formed by Milton touched down in Wellington, Florida.
Doug Engle/Ocala Star-Banner/USA Today Network/Imagn Images
Stephen Lundgren lies on the floor of the Vanguard High School cafeteria as he tries to get some sleep at the Ocala, Florida, shelter on October 9.
Rebecca Blackwell/AP
Ron Rook, who said he was looking for people in need of help or debris to clear, walks down a deserted street in downtown Tampa on October 9.
Paul Hennessy/Anadolu/Getty Images
Check-in kiosks are covered in protective plastic at Orlando International Airport on October 9. The airport ceased operations at 8 a.m.
Bill Ingram/The Palm Beach Post/USA Today Network/Imagn Images
Palm Beach County Sheriff's deputies attend to residents affected by a reported tornado in Wellington on October 9.
Saul Martinez/Getty Images
People walk through the Disney Springs shopping complex in Orlando ahead of the hurricane's arrival.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Payton Wyse and Andrew Goncharsky pack what they can as they evacuate their Fort Myers apartment on October 9.
Rebecca Blackwell/AP
Christian Burke stands at the door of his home in Gulfport, Florida, on October 9. Outside, a boat sits on its side due to Hurricane Helene.
Ricardo Arduengo/Reuters
A Lee County deputy sheriff talks to a driver near the Fort Myers Beach bridge, which was closed on October 9.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Connor Ferran surveys what is left of his Fort Myers home after what appeared to be a tornado tore the roof off on October 9. Milton spawned several tornadoes as it neared landfall.
Kaila Jones/TC Palm/USA Today Network/Imagn Images
Nicolette Mariano, CEO and aquaculture biologist for her oyster farm, Treasure Coast Shellfish, secures oysters from the farm's dockside nursery in Sebastian, Florida.
Damon Higgins/Palm Beach Daily News/USA Today Network via Imagn Images
An employee of Roofs Done Right attaches metal shutters to a building in Palm Beach, Florida, on October 9.
Rebecca Blackwell/AP
Ted Carlson puts McKenzie, a cat belonging to his friend Evan Purcell, into a pickup truck as they evacuate Purcell's home on Florida's Anna Maria Island on October 8. "This place couldn't handle Helene," Carlson said. "It's all going to be gone."
Rebecca Blackwell/AP
Members of the Florida Army National Guard check for any remaining residents in nearly deserted Bradenton Beach. Around them, piles of debris from Hurricane Helene still sit outside damaged homes.
Yamil Lage/AFP/Getty Images
A man wades through a flooded street in Havana, Cuba.
Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty Images
A hospital worker walks by as an AquaFence flood wall is put into place around Tampa General Hospital on October 9.
NASA
NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick
shared this photo from the International Space Station on October 9. "We flew over Hurricane Milton about 90 minutes ago," he said. "Here is the view out the Dragon Endeavour window."
Lorenzo Hernandez/Reuters
Aurelio Ortiz sits in his flooded home in Celestún, Mexico, on October 9.
Mike Carlson/AP
Debris from homes flooded by Hurricane Helene is piled up on curbs in Port Richey, Florida, on October 9.
Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters
People prepare sandbags in Orlando on October 9.
Chris O'Meara/AP
John Fedor waits for transportation to a shelter after his flight was canceled at the Tampa International Airport.
Marta Lavandier/AP
David Jalving throws outdoor furniture into his father's pool in Fort Myers to prepare for Hurricane Milton.
Julio Cortez/AP
Heavy traffic flows northbound on Interstate 75 as people evacuate the Tampa Bay area late on October 7.
Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty Images
A man clears debris left by Hurricane Helene from his home in Treasure Island, Florida.
Octavio Jones/Reuters
A dock is damaged in St. Pete Beach, Florida, on October 7.
Tristan Wheelock/Bloomberg/Getty Images
Piles of debris from Hurricane Helene remain uncollected in Treasure Island.
Marta Lavandier/AP
Domenic Gerald takes a break to watch the latest forecast while packing up his father's vacation home in Fort Myers Beach.
Martin Zetina/AP
A man in Progreso boards up an apartment building to protect it from Hurricane Milton.
Mike Carlson/AP
Contractors in New Port Richey help clean debris left by Hurricane Helene.
Octavio Jones/Reuters
Tropicana Field opened as a staging site for workers and operations. Part of its roof was later torn off during the storm.
Gregg Newton/AFP/Getty Images
Customers check mostly empty bread shelves at a shopping warehouse in Kissimmee, Florida, on October 6.
“It was ghost town when we just left” Anna Maria Island, said Holmes Beach Police Chief William Tokajer, who the prior day had advised anyone opting to ride out the monster storm on the barrier island to “write your name and Social Security number on your leg.”
“The island has been secured,” he said late Wednesday morning. “We did a final pass-through, and I didn’t see anybody that was still there.”
“We’re off island until the storm passes, so there’ll be no fire, no police, no EMS, no first responders, nobody to answer the 911 calls for service that come out there,” Tokajer continued. “We’ve locked down the island, and we’ll return after the storm passes and check for safety before we let people out.”
Puzzles, books, card games and cold dinner
For her part, Marran earlier Wednesday had weighed what she considered the worst risks of facing down Milton on Isla del Sol, some 30 miles north of Holmes Beach via the Sunshine Skyway Bridge.
“We’ll be OK from the surge,” concluded the native Londoner, who lives on the second story and can access higher floors. “The wind is a problem. I’m worried about the wind, but you know, … we have a plan” to get to the condo tower’s interior spaces.
As for the likelihood of losing power, “we’ve got lots of candles,” said Marran, who leads the homeowners association here. “Hopefully keep the iPads and the iPhones charged then, you know, I’ve got some puzzles. We’ve got books. I do play cards,” particularly the game Hand and Foot, using up to six decks – with jokers.
She, Speckhart and a few others also had plenty of food to cook, including some left by neighbors who’d evacuated, and “stuff that we can eat cold for a couple of days,” Marran said.
And, of course, the Isla del Sol residents who planned to endure Milton’s fury in top-risk Zone A – against all official advice – had each other.
“Once you lose the television,” she said, “you’ve just got to talk.”
CNN’s Mary Gilbert, Rebekah Riess, Andy Rose and John Berman contributed to this report.