CHARLOTTE COUNTY, Fla. — Some Charlotte County residents are still cleaning up from Hurricane Helene, and are now preparing for impacts from Hurricane Milton.
Charlotte County officials have issued evacuation orders for zones A and B as 5-10+ feet of storm surge and 3-6 inches of rain is expected in some areas.
Watch FOX 4's Alex Orenczuk report on how Charlotte County residents are preparing for Hurricane Milton:
For Patti and Claude Laine, Hurricane Helene was devastating, flooding their home with over three feet of storm surge.
“The whole house is ruined,” said Patti. “Washer and dryer, hot water heater, stove, cabinets, bathroom bathtub, everything. Everything is ruined.”
Much of their water damaged belongings still sat in front of their home when they spoke with Fox 4 on Monday. The pair said this time they are boarding up some of their windows before evacuating.
“The plan is to just go to some friends and stay and wait for it to pass,” said Patti .”And we’ll see what we have to deal with after that, that’s all we can do.”
For others like Titto Matos, whose home off of Bayshore Drive flooded during Helene, fighting mother nature just isn’t worth it anymore. He said he’s considering selling his home.
“I got 6-12 inches, as you can see everything is damaged,” Matos told Fox 4, pointing to his water damaged belongings on his driveway. “I take three steps forwards and two steps backwards. I told you I'm almost 77 years old and I just don’t want to put up with it no more.”
With zones A and B under evacuation orders, the county is setting up four pet-friendly shelters for people to wait out the storm.
“Based on the threat for a potential of 10 feet of storm surge, and if the forecasts change maybe even more, we have to open up all the shelter’s that we have available,” said Patrick Fuller, Emergency Management Director. “Keeping in mind that an additional forecast that would put storm surge into our C zone would change the availability of our shelters.”
The four shelters are located at:
- Liberty Elementary School
370 Atwater St. Port Charlotte, FL 33954 - Neil Armstrong Elementary School
22100 Breezeswept Ave. Port Charlotte, FL 33952 - Kingsway Elementary School
23300 Quasar Blvd. Port Charlotte, FL 33980 - Harold Avenue Regional Park Recreation Center
23400 Harold Ave. Port Charlotte, FL 33980
For live updates on Hurricane Milton in Charlotte County, click here.
