MANASOTA KEY, Fla. — As Hurricane Milton approaches Southwest Florida, residents on Manasota Key said they were still cleaning up from the devastation Hurricane Helene brought to the island.
Watch Fox 4's Alex Orenczuk report from Manasota Key as residents evacuate:
Storm surge from Hurricane Helene flooded the island and covered the island in mounds of sand. Debris from flooded homes lined the streets on Tuesday as residents evacuated in preparation for Hurricane Milton, which is expected to bring 8-12 feet of storm surge to the coastal community.
“We’re evacuating, we’re going to Fort Myers,” said Robert Crosby, who lives on the island. “This is a gut punch after we just got hit in the chin with Helene two weeks ago.”
Crosby told Fox 4 that the debris left from Hurricane Helene could become dangerous once the surge and winds from Milton reach the area.
“It’s going to be a very big problem if that doesn’t get out of here before the storm comes,” said Crosby. “That stuff is going to fly around and there’s nothing we can do.”
Others who lived farther inland came to the island to fill sandbags in preparation for the storm at one of the county’s sand reclamation sites, which was set up to take back sand Hurricane Helene had deposited on people’s property.
“We are anticipating the worst, it's going to be a lot of water,” said Brad Wheeker, who told Fox 4 that he came from out of state to help his elderly father during the storm. “We didn’t want him going through this again by himself, my family and I made the decision to come down, we're trying to get him out but he’s pretty stubborn so we’ll do the best we can with what we got.”
Charlotte County has issued mandatory evacuation orders for zones A, B and C as of Thursday. Everyone in the zones are urged to comply with evacuation orders.
The county has opened shelters for anyone who needs a place to stay during the storm, and you can find a list of shelter locations by clicking here.
