Riding out the storm: Friends in tiny seaside Briny Breezes stand tough in face of Hurricane Milton

A tornado-spawning hurricane might have spooked the rest of Florida. But not Ted Gross, the mayor of Briny Breezes.

The small coastal community of nearly 500 mobile homes along State Road A1A south of Boynton Beach was among the areas in Palm Beach County urged to evacuate. But several residents — including the mayor — said they planned to stay put.

With Hurricane Milton’s arrival just hours away, Gross stood outside his home holding a notepad as his wife and neighbors chatted and moved things inside on a clear but windy Wednesday morning.

He’d just gotten off a call with the Palm Beach County League of Cities. The community has often flooded during past storms, but Gross felt less worried about a deluge this year.

“It looks like it’s primarily going to be a wind event,” he told a South Florida Sun Sentinel reporter in a matter-of-fact tone.

Gross said he planned to stay put along with his wife, Kathy, and neighbors Kathy Strank and Cindy Brackett.

“It’s kind of a close-knit community,” Strank said. “Everyone takes care of everyone. Everybody knows who’s here and who’s gone.”

An elderly neighbor down the street evacuated because she takes medication that requires refrigeration and was worried about losing power, Strank shared.

Still, all of the people staying have a backup plan, just in case this latest monster of a storm turns south.

“That’s when I jump in a car and leave,” Kathy Gross said.

“The danger is when it starts tracking south,” the mayor added. “That’s when Palm Beach County would be in real trouble. ”

‘We’re just gonna pray’

Elsewhere in the Briny Breezes community, Janea Raley watched as her best friend, Ford Stratton, worked on putting up her hurricane shutters.

He’d driven down from Wellington just to make sure she was prepared after she told him she wasn’t going anywhere. Two other friends offered to safeguard her electric vehicle, she said.

Raley’s mobile home has been in the family for 30 years.

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Her mother had appeared on TV news for staying put in the same home during a different hurricane back in the day. For Raley, it felt like things were coming full circle.

“Her hair was blowing everywhere,” she recalled. “She was like, ‘We’re just gonna pray.’ My mentality is, ‘Thank God my friends are here.’”

Tiny figurines of dinosaurs and animals and shells were on display on a ledge outside Raley’s home. Winds may come, but she isn’t worried about them blowing away.

“They’ve been there since the last hurricane,” she said with confidence.

‘I’m a little stressed’

Others in the neighborhood chose to evacuate, but did not travel too far from home.

Susan Atlee finished up the last of her storm preparations Wednesday morning before heading out to her daughter’s home in Boca Raton. She’s lived in her mobile home for 11 years and had to evacuate only twice.

Atlee said she wasn’t too concerned about the storm, but admitted to being frazzled from having to upend her life for a few days.

“I’m a little stressed,” she told the Sun Sentinel. “Unsettled is more like it, because you just don’t know what’s going to happen and everything’s different and changing your schedules. … It’s sort of more of an annoyance.”

Her friends who live out of state were glad she was evacuating though, and her daughter had insisted she come.

Meanwhile, Eddie Olsen stood outside with his 14-year-old cat, Myirie Nuggets.

Olsen was still debating whether to put up hurricane shutters or call it a day and go ride out the storm with his son on the other side of Boynton Beach, away from the water.

“Who knows what Milton will do once it goes to the Atlantic,” he said.

Was he worried about what the evening might bring?

“I could be but there’s no point in it,” Olsen said. “It’s not gonna help me get stuff done.”

Seeking shelter

By Wednesday afternoon, only a few evacuees had trickled into Palm Beach County’s shelter at Park Vista High School and West Boynton Recreation Center, a neighboring shelter set up just for pets.

The recreation center was ready for a crowd, with 40 staff members — including veterinarians, techs and deputies, several of whom planned to stay through the night to look after the pets. As of Wednesday afternoon, the shelter had only 13 animals, said Sgt. Amanda McKeon, with the Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control. Of those 13, four dogs and two cats were pets owned by residents.

There’s really no way to predict just how full the shelter might get, McKeon said.

“I’m not sure if it’s going to be really really bad or not so bad,” she said.

Just a few minutes after McKeon spoke, Petrona Lopez and sister Jenifer walked in with two more dogs, saying goodbye as shelter employees locked the canines into carriers.

The sisters said they live in Casa Del Monte, a mobile home community in West Palm Beach. This is their first time evacuating to a shelter, Petrona Lopez said.

In the past, she hadn’t known whether a shelter would take their dogs — especially Rico, a chihuahua mix who barked indignantly at the shelter employees as soon as he arrived.

“When I woke up my first concern was my dogs,” Lopez said.

So she called the Guatemalan-Maya Center and found out there was indeed a shelter that would accept them.

Lopez said she was worried about flooding in her neighborhood and whether her home might suffer damage due to wind. Directly behind the home she shares with her family sits a canal that floods. On the other side of the house is a giant pine tree.

“We’re worried it’s going to get knocked over,” she said.

Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com . Follow me on X @Susannah_Bryan