Products are independently selected by our editors.
We may earn an affiliate commission from links.
Milton haskilled at least 24 peopleand causedwidespread floodingandpower outagesthroughout Florida.
Hurricane devastation off the coast of Florida. (Photo: Getty Images)
As a third-generation Central Floridian, Ive weathered my fair share of storms.
Does understanding thatFlorida will be hit, again and again, ever lessen the impact?
This particular storm season has hit harder than anyone local can remember.
Photo: Getty Images
I might joke about a lot of things in my life, but Milton?
This hurricane scared the hell out of me.
The week of the storm, wed been planning to host a wedding reception for my sister.
Photo: Getty Images
Large oak trees sway overhead, strands of lights mingled between the branches.
Potted plants, outdoor furniture, even a gas grill for impromptu burgers.
It was going to be a nice event.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Before news of the storm hit, we were happy about the weather predictions.
It was October and the weather had finally dipped below eighty-five degrees.
Warm water always make storms much more powerful, and Gulf storms are especially bad.
Id been saying it for weeks to my wife.Its too dry this summer, I told her.
There hadnt been enough afternoon thunderstorms.
All kinds of pressure with no release.
Twenty years earlier, whenHurricane Charleyhit the state, people lost power for weeks.
Oak trees broke and splintered, blocking roads and trashing homes.
After cleaning debris off his roof post-storm, my grandfather had a massive heart attack and died.
We all have trauma from storms here.
Some worse than others.
Anticipating something very bad, I canceled the wedding reception.
We needed time to prepare.
During the Storm
Rain fell steadily through Tuesday and into Wednesday.
We kept every gear charged, sure wed lose power at any moment.
If our power went out, we could have the room Thursday night.
The offer was so generousfrom a new friend, no lessthat I began to cry.
There isnt a room in our house that doesnt have windows.
All day long the news had been warning of record tornado warnings.
At 8 p.m, the power blitzed off and then immediately came back on.
We froze and I began to really panic.
Would we even have cell service?
The coast was already being hammered.
My eyes were dry from staring at the TV and my phone screen.
I pulled out every towel from our linen closet and stuffed them below our sliding glass doors.
Water had puddled on our carpet; the floor was drenched.
The wind howled ferociously.
One especially large one was dangling from a mess of vines.
Loose, and very, very sharp from where it had broken free of the trunk.
Every time the wind gusted, it came straight for the window.
At around 4 a.m, there was a terrific bang as something large fell directly outside our window.
We would have to wait until morning, until daylight, to see what had happened.
Miraculously, our power never fully went out.
The quality of the light outside was strange.
Our backyard was piled high with oak branches and plenty of loose debris.
Quite a few pieces of bamboo had broken off, leaning drunkenly over the side of the fence.
One of our trees had broken cleanly in half.
It had fallen directly beside the house, narrowly missing our roof and our bedroom.
It had caught on the basketball hoop in our backyard.
We went back inside and watched the news, texting friends.
Some own generators so they were able to text us back.
Hurricane season doesnt end this year until the end of November; over a full month from now.
I choose to stay in Florida because its my home and its what I love.
The people I love live here, too.
And if were being honest, climate change is coming for all of us, not just Floridians.
Even if I decided to leave, theres no guarantee that anywhere else would be safe.
