Daytona Buc-ee's impromptu staging area for North Carolina utility trucks

DAYTONA BEACH — While Buc-ee's gas stations in Georgia were packed with Floridians evacuating ahead of Hurricane Milton, that wasn't the case for the Buc-ee's here on Wednesday morning just hours before the monster storm's anticipated arrival.

The mega 104-pump gas station/travel convenience center off Interstate 95 in Daytona Beach was unusually quiet with only a smattering of customers compared to how busy it is normally . The Buc-ee's here drew an astounding 5.4 million visitors last year.

Adam Holden, a retired firefighter now living near Clearwater, stopped by the Daytona Beach Buc-ee's to refuel his car en route to Jacksonville where he planned to shelter from the storm at a friend's house.

"I'm five miles from the beach (in Pinellas County) and didn't get flooded during Hurricane Helene ," said Holden, "but with it (Hurricane Milton) coming toward (Sarasota, just south of the Tampa/St. Petersburg/Clearwater area) I just don't want to take a chance."

The vast parking lot at Buc-ee's included a row of parked power company utility trucks on Wednesday morning.

Linemen Tim Sullivan and William Howell of Pike Electric in Mount Airy, North Carolina, were planning to join the other parked power company trucks after refueling their vehicle at Buc-ee's.

"We were deployed by FPL (Florida Power & Light)," said Sullivan, explaining that he and Howell initially came to the Sunshine State to help with restoring power to homes in Live Oak, Gainesville, Starke and Lake City in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, which made landfall near Perry, Florida, on Sept. 26.

"We had two days off pretty much and we're right back at it," said Sullivan of the new assignment to help with anticipated recovery efforts after Hurricane Milton hits. "We're a little tired but it is what it is. We've got to keep going."

"They said pull over and wait," he said of the decision to refuel in Daytona Beach while awaiting further instructions from FPL.

Howell added, "Plans have changed. We've got to figure out where we're going to be. We might either go down south or go further north, not really sure, but we'll figure it out, eventually."

Said Sullivan: "We're down here trying to just work as hard as we can for the power lines."

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Daytona Buc-ee's impromptu staging area for North Carolina utility trucks