Novi native shares why she's chosen to stay in Florida as Hurricane Milton blows in: 'I think we'll be OK.'

(WWJ) People are evacuating western Florida by the thousands as the powerful Hurricane Milton approaches — but many others are staying put.

Among those choosing to stick around is Novi, Michigan native Megan Engels, who's riding out the storm out at a friend's place in St. Petersburg with her boyfriend and their cat.

With storm surge warnings covering almost the entirety of Florida's western coast , why not get out to be on the safe side?

"The amount of traffic that was on the roads at the time; we were keeping track of the gas shortages and the amount of traffic," said Engels, who lives in the Tampa area, but grew up down the street from WWJ Newsradio 950's Beth Fisher.

She explained, "We had a friend in downtown St. Pete who is in a brick building, lives on the fourth floor, in a non-evacuation zone, a non-flood zone, who said, 'Hey, come stay with me. I think we'll be good."

Engles said they brought enough food and supplies for ten days, and they plan to hunker down.

Milton — the first major hurricane to directly hit the Tampa area in more than a century — is expected to make landfall sometime between 10 p.m. Wednesday and 2 a.m. Thursday as a Category 4 storm , bringing with it 155 mile-per-hour winds, up to 18 inches of rain, flash floods and storm surges up to 15 feet, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Fisher asked Engles if she's scared.

"Yes," she admitted. "Trying not to be, but I feel like it's kind of impossible not to be. We're just trying to be as safe as possible. Even though we're on the fourth floor — I'm pretty confident about this building — we're still putting boards over the windows. We have sandbags on the sliding door, just to make sure."

She said at this point power is their biggest concern, so they're making sure their phones are charged.

Engels said people back home don't understand their decision to remain in Florida, but she knows how worried her parents and friends are.

"I've gotten a ton of texts, which I really appreciated people checking in... They are freaking me out more than anything else I think," Engels said. "But I think we'll be OK."

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