Home Consumer A Historic Evacuation And Some Luck Limited Hurricane Milton’s Devastation

A Historic Evacuation And Some Luck Limited Hurricane Milton’s Devastation

Ariel view of property damage in Lee County Florida caused by Hurricane Milton, via Sen. Rick Scott (File)

Kim and Chris Tynan don’t usually evacuate their coastal home in St. Pete Beach, where they run a business offering boat rides to tourists. But this hurricane season changed that. After they rode out Hurricane Helene and watched their waterfront home flood, they were among many Floridians willing to take no such chances on Hurricane Milton.

They returned from the Orlando area Thursday to find one of their boats missing, but their house still standing. And if they face a decision to evacuate again?

“We’ll probably leave every time,” Kim Tynan said.

In a state where so many scoff at hurricane threats, a combination of dire forecasts, widespread warnings and fresh memories of hurricane destruction prompted one of the largest evacuation efforts in recent decades ahead of Milton. And when the storm finally arrived, residents and authorities said the state’s preparations largely met the challenge.

Experts credited state officials, weather forecasters and local leaders across Florida with learning from past disasters to improve how they communicated the storm’s risks and uncertainties and gave residents clear instructions about what to do. Many, it seemed, listened.

Faith Based Events

“With each storm system, we try to learn from the previous one. We try to put something in place so that never happens again,” said Elizabeth Dunn, an instructor at the University of South Florida focused on disaster management and humanitarian relief. With Milton, she said, “this response was well orchestrated.”

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