Stay Safe

As Hurricane Milton slammed the Florida coast, Newscenter 5 checked in on former Massachusetts residents who were bracing for the storm.Officials in Florida spent days urging residents to evacuate, before the Category 3 hurricane made landfall near Siesta Key on Wednesday night.Bobby Pero, a former resident of Beverly, Massachusetts, has seen his fair share of hurricanes since moving to Naples, Florida. However, this time he knew it would be much worse.”You just don’t know with hurricanes,” Pero said. “You gotta be smart be safe and do the right thing.”Former Massachusetts resident Steve Groh shared a similar perspective, as Hurricane Debbie nearly flooded his Clearwater, Florida home in August.”We’re pretty experienced with hurricanes here and we know when to leave and when not to leave,” Groh said.”This time, he evacuated, not taking any chances.”There was no question anymore, because this thing was going to build so big,” Groh said.Time-lapse video from his home shows Hurricane Milton already packing a punch.”I quite frankly think I’m going to be going home to a shell of a house,” Groh said.Former Newscenter 5 floor director Russ Wolfe, who now works in Tampa said while he helps keep his station on the air, he makes sure his wife is safe at home.”She’s safe secure. We have all the hurricane preparations. We got everything that we need,” Wolfe said.Michael Cody and his partner moved to St Petersburg, Florida from Everett, Massachusetts and bought their home with hurricanes in mind.”We’re 43 feet above sea level, we have a cinder block house, we have hurricane windows, we specifically bought this house for this exact reason,” Cody said.Cody said he could not evacuate because he is a county employee.”They need county employees to run the phone center, they need county employees to run the shelters,” Cody said.”It is definitely a difficult decision you have to think of. Is it worth leaving? How bad is it gonna be? Because you never really know until it happens.”In Punta Gorda, about an hour south of Sarasota, Charlene Machado placed all of her furniture up on tables standing on concrete blocks.”It’s taken us probably two or three days to prepare the house,” Machado said.Machado made the decision to evacuate at the last minute, abandoning her earlier plans to stay home through the storm. “This one’s a lot different. This one’s a very serious hurricane,” Kim Devolve said.Devolve lives in a newer home in Parrish, about 45 minutes northeast of Sarasota.”Everything is up to the latest and greatest hurricane standards in Florida, so we do feel safe,” Devolve said.However, the hurricane isn’t the only thing on Devolve’s mind, as multiple tornado sightings have been reported across Florida as an effect of the incoming storm system.This prompted Devolve to move motorcycle helmets into her closet just to be safe.”Say some prayers for anybody you know down here, and we’ll hunker down,” Devolve said.In Sarasota, Will Hall is staying with his family. Just weeks ago, their Tampa home was devastated by Hurricane Helene.”It’s nerve-wracking. I’ve got two kids, I’ve got a dog, my wife,” Hall said.”We’re kind of following all the good hurricane procedures to be safe if things get really bad, and we’re just hoping it all works out.”