Expand / Collapse search
☰

Two people face Hurricane Milton in Florida: One trapped, one chooses to stay

By
Published  October 9, 2024 9:49pm CDT
Florida
FOX 32 Chicago

Two people face Hurricane Milton in Florida: One trapped, one chooses to stay

A woman was trapped by circumstance and another stayed by choice as Hurricane Milton, a Category 3 storm, made landfall in Florida on Wednesday night.

The Brief 

    • Julia Gingles, stuck in Marion County, Florida, after her car battery died, is using TikTok tips to weather Hurricane Milton.
    • Andre Hudson chose to stay in his sturdy St. Petersburg building, relying on its backup generator.
    • Hurricane Milton has knocked out power for over 340,000 people in Florida so far.

FLORIDA - A woman was trapped by circumstances and another stayed by choice as Hurricane Milton, a Category 3 storm, made landfall in Florida on Wednesday night.

Both had one goal — to stay alive.

Julia Gingles is hunkering down in Marion County as the hurricane sweeps through Florida.

The single mother of an 11-year-old hasn't experienced many hurricanes, so she leaned on TikTok for survival tips.

"I was told to put X tape on it in case it shatters, so I did that – X tape around it in an X shape. And then, I also put my bar and my bit on it in case it pushes and tries to blow this way in…," Gingles said. 

As she was taking care of day-to-day tasks, Gingles' car battery died as the storm approached Florida.

She said by the time she could evacuate, it was too late. 

"I did deal with Helene, so I felt like, okay, I'm going to have to try to duke it out here again," she said. 

The Baltimore native is hoping to make it through the storm.

"First of all, that wind is really strong," she added.

In St. Petersburg, wind gusts topped at least 100 miles per hour.

Andre Hudson, a native Floridian, decided not to evacuate before the storm hit.

"In this building 14 years, so it's been a few storms come through, but I've never really had to leave this building downtown, St. Pete. This is like one of, one of the best built structures downtown St. Pete here. So, you know, it's that brick and that steel, solid, solid foundation," said Hudson. 

Hudson’s biggest concern is losing power, though his building has a backup generator.

"We're on a power grid with the hospital, as well as we have a backup generator here," he said.

Shortly after our interview, Milton caused a transformer to blow right before Hudson's eyes.

Hudson still has power, but tonight, 315,000 people living alongside him in Pinellas County are in the dark and in Marion County, 28,000 customers are without power.