Floridians fleeing to Carolinas during Hurricane Milton evacuations

CHESTER COUNTY, S.C. ( QUEEN CITY NEWS ) — Floridians are fleeing to the Carolinas as Hurricane Milton starts to bear down on the Sunshine State.

On Wednesday, there were a lot of Florida plates at the rest stop on I-77 in Chester County.

“If water gets in, I was afraid it’d be over our heads and wind up with nowhere to go,” said Joseph Montysko, who lives in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Some others had a hand in convincing Joseph and his wife, Gail Montysko, to leave the Tampa area.

“Our kids were calling saying, ‘Get out of there,’ so we came,” said Gail.

It’s the first time they’ve evacuated from a hurricane after living in St. Petersburg since 2009.

“We’re heading up to Charlotte to visit my son and his wife and she had a hard time finding a hotel room for us,” said Joseph.

Rebecca Peck only packed up part of her family fleeing Daytona Beach.

“Three kids wanted to experience it, so they’re staying with my husband, but my son and I are the only ones with brains, we’re escaping,” said Peck.

They’re taking the dogs and heading to their vacation home in a place all too familiar with hurricane damage— Blowing Rock .

“I don’t know. God’s trying to tell us something I don’t know,” said Peck.

They just got power back to their home in western North Carolina after Hurricane Helene hit there just under two weeks ago.

“Maybe our porch is sliding off (in Blowing Rock), we’re not sure about that,” said Peck.

So much uncertainty from Helene and now Hurricane Milton.

“A lot of people have it worse; my prayers go out to the people that are directly in the path, we just pray they get through it without loss of life and their houses are intact,” said Peck.

Peck said when they saw the blue Carolina skies, she knew she had made the right decision to evacuate, plus the dogs will enjoy the cooler temperatures in Blowing Rock while they wait to return to Florida after the hurricane.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Queen City News.