Amherst native Ray Collins rides out Hurricane Milton in Orlando

Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Amherst native and former Channel 4 anchor Ray Collins and his wife Erin, packed up and headed east from their home in Sarasota, looking for some refuge from Hurricane Milton, which made landfall Wednesday night.

They took their SUV cross-state to Orlando after monitoring the storm throughout the week.

"It's been like watching the stock market," Collins said. "The past few days I've been looking at the track of the radar where I'm supposed to go. First it was north of us, then south of us. Every six hours I'm checking the update...it felt like I was a stock analyst trying to track an important company."

He and Erin had just returned home to Sarasota from a two-week vacation a few weeks ago. The couple immediately had to start packing up again amid a cloud of uncertainty.

"Here we were packing the same bag again, throwing some of the same things in the bag, also grabbing passports again but for different reasons, not knowing if we'd come back to a house."

The Collinses have been staying with friends in Orlando. Ray says he has an idea of when he and Erin will head back home.

"We'd like to stay until out power goes back on back in Sarasota. The place is in one piece, I don't know how the roads are yet, though. Not until I get back there to find out how easy it is to get around."