Hurricane Milton As It Happened
- Michelle Nichols Bork
- Oct 11, 2024
- 3 min read
Updated: Oct 14, 2024
As Travelmation was preparing for RoadShow Stop 4: Houston, I was home preparing for my first official Florida hurricane: Milton.
DAY 1:
Waiting for Hurricane Milton 🌀. It seriously feels like Sunday was 3 weeks ago, not 2 days ago. Maurice worked today in Daytona securing all of the charter buses he oversees. Addison, Winston, and I went shopping for the millionth time and I’m pretty sure we have enough food for the next 3 months 😆. The only thing we couldn’t find was a weather radio. The local news is on 24/7 pretty much repeating everything over and over until the next update. Updates are at 2, 5, 8, and 11.
Our house has impact windows, so we do not need hurricane shutters, but a lot of houses around us have their metal shutters up. It’s pretty quiet in our neighborhood, but, then again, it’s always quiet here. It looks like it will hit Florida early Thursday morning as of now.
DAY 2:
Travelmation agents Gaynel and Collin and family have arrived!! Patio furniture in, ten people in place here, and food has been prepped. Let the cooking and gaming begin!!
Tornado warnings going on all around us. I prepped the laundry room in case we needed to take cover. I miss my Ohio basement!
Outer bands hitting the central east coast of Florida now at 4:00pm. We are just above Melbourne.
Honey baked ham, Mac and cheese, squash, and chips and guacamole. “Milton” reminded me of my uncle, which reminded me of my grandpa, which reminded me of Thanksgiving, which made me make lots of food. We ate and now are playing games. The rain and wind has stopped for now, just waiting for the storm to arrive.
DAY 3:
12:15am - The storm is in Orlando right now at a cat 2. Heading towards us at what looks like a cat 1. Heavy winds, no rain yet. The tornado warning we got earlier was a tornado that hit Cocoa, which is about 15 minutes north of us.
6:45am - we are on the back end of the hurricane right now and the winds are howling. Wind direction has changed and the palm trees are blowing the opposite direction now. We were in the direct path, but I think it shifted north more and we mostly got a lot of wind, not much rain. As of right now we have power and internet still! I read from neighbors that we lost it for a few seconds during the night, but it came back on!
IMPACT WINDOWS - I cannot say enough about how amazing having impact windows during a storm was. Most of our neighbors have hurricane metal shutters up that are screwed on and they cannot see out or go on their back porch because the patio doors are boarded up.
➡️ We could see out all of our windows during the storm at all times
➡️ Our patio door was accessible to go outside on our screened-in porch to watch the storm or for tornados
➡️ Our house is pretty soundproof. We all slept through the night because we hardly heard the wind.
➡️ Energy efficient. They reflect the sun from heating up our house.
➡️ Safety. They can withstand a category 5 hurricane and are shatterproof.
I HIGHLY suggest getting impact windows. They are a big investment, but worth every penny during a storm. ⛈️ 🪟
DAY 4:
Prepping for the hurricane consumed me for 4 days. The constant watching of the news and radar, the running to the store to buy “I might need” supplies, and worrying about the “what if” scenarios. It was exhausting. Yesterday, when the sun came out and the cool breeze blew over me, I felt like I re-entered life. Everyone in our house was ok, we had power, and the patio furniture was moved back outside. Our hurricane-fleeing guests left, the dishes got done, and I started to pack for my next trip. I finally started to feel normal again. The worry was gone, the anxiety was leaving my body, and I started doing normal stuff. It was a good reminder to me how an event can change your mindset and getting on the other side of it can bring you back to who you are. Feeling normal is the best feeling there is. ❤️