‘Still reeling from Helene,’ West Michigan natives evacuate before Milton

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Hurricane Milton has forced people from West Michigan who are now living in Florida to evacuate their homes.

The hurricane is forecast to pass through the middle of the state coming ashore Wednesday night.

Chris Contreras, who moved from Grand Rapids to the area three years ago, is not taking any chances after Hurricane Helene flooded the first floor of the Tampa condo building he lives in with 2 to 3 feet of water.

“First time actually evacuating. We stayed through Ian, we stayed through Helene two weeks ago,” Contreras said.

Fortunately, he lives on the second floor, but Milton could have more than double the storm surge.

“It was close enough that it was coming up the stairs to my front door. And with Milton, they’re forecasting 10 to 15 foot of surge. We got just below 7 feet,” Contreras said.

He is unsure of what will remain when he returns home after seeing the impact of Helene.

“I did pull a neighbor out of a window. Pulled a cat. I ended up with a living room full of neighbors for a night,” Contreras said.

He is now in Jacksonville with family friends, staying inland away from the water.

“It’s normally about a three-hour drive for us to get over here to Jacksonville. Took us almost 7.5 hours. They did open up the shoulders for additional lanes,” Contreras said.

The area still has piles of debris building up that could become projectiles with the hurricane winds.

“Monday, before we left, the police were leading convoys of dump trucks in and out of Pinellas County and across the bridge,” Contreras said.

Even those farther from the coast are moving inland.

Trevor Vrona, a cousin of News 8’s Tom Hillen, says gas is getting harder to find and people are boarding up their windows.

“I evacuated yesterday. I went to Brandon, which is about 30 minutes east of where I currently live,” Vrona said. “I have my outdoor furniture that I brought in, anything loose. Tucking away any garbage cans.”

The friends are hoping for the best but bracing for the worst.

“I think everybody is still on edge and reeling from the anxiety of Helene, and so a lot of people have taken this a lot more serious than we probably would have,” Contreras said.

GRAND RAPIDS NATIVE LEAVES FORT MEYERS BEACH

A Grand Rapids native who moved to Florida a few years ago said he’s not taking any chances and got out of Fort Meyers beach, where he now lives, before Hurricane Milton hit.

“The hurricane scares you, it’s scary. The water and the waves are just crazy when it comes,” said Kevin VanVuuren. “You hold hope it doesn’t get what they’re saying, but at the same time, you’re rethinking, God why do I live here?”

VanVuuren said just about everyone on the island listened to the advice of city leaders to get out,  but it was difficult leaving. Traffic was bumper to bumper and a lot of stations were out of gas.

But VanVuuren and his wife and dog were able to book a room at a hotel not too far away.

“Very subdued. We have a puppy, there are other puppies barking in the hallways when someone walks, it’s just really eerie because you get rain, cloudiness. We’ve had probably 20 tornado warnings this afternoon, in the last three to four hours,” VanVuuren said Wednesday.

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