A "miracle" in Wimauma
Wilber Baptiste, 68, and his wife, Eronie Noel Baptiste, 59, decided to stay in their mobile home in Wimauma and not go to a shelter. They thought the hurricane-force winds of Milton would only last a couple of hours.
By Thursday morning, they both said it would be the last time they would do that.
"We are alive by a miracle. I don't know how we survived this, but it was the worst night we've ever experienced," said Wilber Baptiste.
The couple, who are from Haiti, live in a mobile home that was built more than two decades ago.
"The largest branches of the tree over the house fell in the parking area," said Eronie Noel Baptiste. "That's why we believe it was a miracle."
Ruskin mobile home residents lose everything
Abel Bautista, a 36-year-old Mexican migrant, lost the trailer home he had rented for two years in Ruskin. He lived there with his cousin, Silverio, 22.
"You work hard all day to have your things, and the next day, nothing," said Bautista, who works in construction. "That's what happened to us."
Bautista said they have nowhere to go.
"That’s something that has never happened to me in my entire life," he said.
Bautista and his cousin decided to leave early Oct. 9 before the hurricane and went to a shelter in Lakeland.
"If we hadn't done that, our families in Mexico would be mourning right now," said Bautista.
They also lost $500 they had saved and left in a "safe box" inside the mobile home before it was destroyed.
Sinkhole opens in Riverview
Jen Dávila, 47, saw something unusual in the middle of her path as she walked after Hurricane Milton on Thursday: a sinkhole.
"Wow," she said. "It's a big surprise, but not really. Milton hit hard."
Residents of the Moss Landing apartment complex in Riverview quickly gathered, worried as they assessed the damage.
"The police blocked the area, and the sinkhole blocked the only entrance and exit for at least 50 homes. It will take some time to fix it," said William Wells, a 36-year-old neighbor.
Sheltered in a Pinellas church
José Sequeira, a 37-year-old Costa Rican migrant, lived through the anxiety of evacuating a mobile home he had rented for just a few weeks in eastern Pinellas County.
"When you're told to evacuate as a Hispanic migrant, many questions cross your mind: What am I going to do now with little money? Where am I going to go? What if I lose my home?" he said.
Sequeira admits that he had never experienced a hurricane before Helene and Milton. The news of their arrival took him by surprise. "These things don’t happen in my country," he said, recalling the panic that gripped the city when it was announced that the hurricane was headed straight for Tampa Bay.
Without the resources to seek refuge in a hotel, Sequeira had to rely on a safe place provided by the community. "You have to adjust to where they can help you," he said. In the end, he ended up staying in a concrete church with other evacuees, hoping for the best as the winds began to howl.
Thursday night, as he listened to the branches hitting the roof and the secured windows creaking in the wind, José tried to sleep. When he woke up, he went outside to see the destruction.
"There were trees down everywhere, some on top of house roofs," he said, still stunned by the magnitude of the storm.
Sequeira remains without water or electricity, hoping services will be restored soon. "We pray to God that it will be the last one of the season," he concluded with optimism, grateful to have come out unscathed from his first encounter with a hurricane.
A rushed evacuation in St. Pete
Javier Ortiz, 34, and his wife, Marisol, were undecided about evacuating or staying in their home in St. Petersburg. "We had never been through something like this. We saw how the hurricane was progressing, and the news said it was going to be devastating," Javier recalled.
They decided to evacuate at the last minute, heading to a local shelter. "We could only take the essentials: important documents, some clothes, and a bit of money," Marisol explained. "It was terrifying to leave our house behind and not know if we would ever see it again."
When they returned, they faced the worst: half of the roof had been torn off by the winds.
"All the hard work of years, destroyed in a matter of hours," said Javier, trying to hold back tears. Now they face the difficult task of rebuilding their lives after Milton, but they are thankful they made the decision to evacuate, as it saved their lives.
A difficult decision in Brandon
Antonio Méndez, 28, had heard that the hurricane was coming strong, but he wasn’t sure about leaving his home.
"It’s hard to leave the little you have when you know you could lose everything," he said. Méndez lived alone and worked as a gardener in the area.
Finally, when the winds began to pick up, he decided to seek shelter at a friend’s house. "I ran out at the last minute, and when I came back the next day, everything was flooded," he explained. His small home had been hit by the intensity of the rains and a tree that fell directly onto the roof.
Now, Méndez is staying with a friend temporarily. He reflected on the lessons of Hurricane Milton. "I realized how important it is to have an emergency plan. Losing the house was devastating, but at least I’m alive," he said with hope.
A timely escape in Town 'n' Country
Luis Torres, a 40-year-old Honduran, lives with his wife and two children in Town 'n' Country, an area west of Tampa. Like many in his neighborhood, Torres was worried about Hurricane Milton, but at first, he wasn’t sure about evacuating.
"We’ve lived here for years, and although we’ve been through other hurricanes, none has been as scary as this one," he said.
On Wednesday morning, flood alerts started sounding on his phone. "They started saying that Milton would bring heavy rains and that Town 'n' Country could flood because it's near the water," he recalled. The winds were already picking up, and the sky was darkening when he and his wife decided it was best to leave before it was too late.
"The hardest part was packing quickly and deciding what to take," said Mariela, his wife. "We left with the basics: some clothes, food for the kids, and important documents." As they left the area, traffic was heavy, and many residents were also evacuating. "We knew that if we didn’t leave then, we might have gotten stuck," added Luis.
They spent the night at a relative's house in northern Tampa, safe from the storm.
"It was hard to sleep that night, thinking about what might be happening to our home," said Mariela. The next morning, they got the news that parts of Town 'n' Country were underwater. When they returned to their home, they found the ground floor flooded.
"The water had risen almost a meter," Luis explained. "We lost many pieces of furniture and appliances, but the most important thing is that we are OK."
Although they face difficult days ahead, the Torres family is grateful they decided to evacuate.
"It’s painful to see your home like this, but we can’t replace our lives," said Mariela. Luis added that after this experience, they will always be better prepared for future storms. "Material things can be replaced, but life can’t," he concluded with relief.
