Apollo Beach residents stop cleaning up from Helene as they prepare to evacuate for Milton

APOLLO BEACH, Fla. (WFLA) — In Apollo Beach, some people are still cleaning up from Hurricane Helene, but are now working to evacuate before Hurricane Milton.

Some are having trouble finding gas to be able to leave the area.

There are also concerns that the storm debris on the streets and in front of homes will not be picked up in time before Milton hits.

Alicia Plabljanic plans to evacuate with her son.

“Well, we are headed to my sister’s in Lakeland because during the last hurricane, storm the storm surge got all the way up to our front porch area,” Plabljanic said.

This storm worries her and many of her neighbors.

“A lot of stress and panic, and just seeing our neighbors and our friends lose everything in their houses, and a couple of them stayed the night that night in our house and it’s just very sad,” Plabljanic said.

Ricardo Padron is also planning to leave Apollo Beach before Milton hits.

“We lost everything in the first round, we lost about 75% of our stuff and are about to lose the rest,” Padron said.

Getting gas to leave will not be easy, as many stations have run out of fuel.

James Wittenberg waited in a long line on Tuesday when he found one station that was open with gas.

“Oh, it’s been pretty tough, all over and it seems like one station has it for a while and then they don’t and then you’ve got to find another station,” Wittenberg said.

Marie Deering is also leaving, but is worried all of the debris that still lines the streets will become dangerous during Milton’s worst winds.

“They have picked up a lot of stuff, but there is still a huge amount of debris that is loose, pieces of wood, furniture. Once this storm hits at a hundred, a hundred twenty five miles an hour, that’s going into everywhere,” Deering said.

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