Floridians in Georgia prepare to head home after Hurricane Milton’s passage

SAVANNAH, Ga (WSAV) — Thousands of Floridians who were trying to get out of the storm’s path are now heading home. Some are waiting for the green light from friends and family.

Dionne Formey lives in Tampa, Florida, and set out to Savannah on Monday to escape Hurricane Milton.

“ I didn’t sleep much because I was worried…  not about my house, but worried about the people that I care about that are still there,” she said.

Formey told News 3 she is not sure if she should make the journey any time soon after seeing the storm’s aftermath.

“They let me know my power is out in my house, but hopefully they’ll let us know when it’s restored,” she said. “So, my plan is to not at least go back until it is restored. But I’m mostly concerned about what the drive looks like going back. Is it even safe to be on the road?”

She told News 3 that she relies on her students and friends who decided to ride out the storm for updates.

“Some of them said they should have left because they are out of power,” Formey explained. “The winds were so forceful that they were afraid.”

She said some of those people are dealing with major damage.

“I have a student who has a tree on their home,” said Formey. “I have another student whose car is damaged. It got pushed into someone else’s home.  I saw I had one student told me that her room is flooded…”

This comes after Hurricane Helene, too, which brought strong winds and significant flooding to Tampa.

“It just makes me sad because the back-to-back… they can’t recover from the first thing and then something else comes up as well,” Formey said. “So, I just, my heart goes out to those people.”

Formey said this should be a wake-up call for Floridians who could face another hurricane soon.

“I’d rather be safe than sorry,” she said. “If I’m able to leave, I’m always going to leave just in case. Hopefully, that’s the message that most people take from the damage.”

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