Hurricane Milton evacuees reach Georgia

Hurricane Milton will land on Florida’s gulf coast Wednesday evening, and ahead of the storm’s arrival, some Floridians fled to Macon. 

Milton, set to be a Category 3 when it makes landfall, will reach wind speeds of roughly 111-129 mph. Several counties along the coast issued mandatory evacuation orders.

Bibb County is expected to be “largely unscathed,” said National Weather Service Meteorologist Laura Belanger, with portions of the southeast corner of Georgia potentially receiving some rain.

Macon-Bibb County opened up two evacuation centers at 5 p.m. Tuesday, one at the South Bibb Recreation Center and the other at the Delores A. Brooks Recreation Center, in light of the evacuation orders.

The county and the Red Cross are providing cots, water, snacks and a safe space for evacuees to wait out the storm.

The Red Cross has nine other evacuation centers across the state near evacuation routes and larger cities.

Richard Simmons, a government liaison manager for the Red Cross, said evacuees are being told to head past the Florida-Georgia line, and that there’s a ton of people leaving Florida.

The sites are considered evacuation centers, but if there are still a hundred people stuck after 48 hours, the site can be upgraded to an emergency shelter, and the Red Cross can start handing out meals.

“We just set it up and plan, and say ‘okay this is what’s available,” he said. “It’s all fluid and you have to be able to go with the flow.”

The Red Cross has about 2,000 volunteers and staff working across the Southeast, both to prepare for Milton and restore the damage caused by Hurricane Helene.

Pauline Rasmussen along with her husband Ned and dog Minnie left their house in The Villages, Florida around 5:30 p.m. on Monday and arrived in Macon Tuesday afternoon. They’ve lived in the Villages since 2009, and this is the first time they’ve evacuated.

Ned and Pauline decided to head out upon learning that the storm could be record breaking, and “threw a dart” and it landed on Macon.

Rasmussen recently purchased a manufactured home that she sunk most of her savings into, and is pretty sure it won’t survive the storm.

“I’m optimistic that if [the house] doesn’t make it through, that I’ll be okay,” she said. “It could be worse for other people. I feel safe and sound right now.” 

As of 9 a.m. Wednesday, nobody has arrived at the evacuation center in east Macon, while 10 people are staying at the center in south Bibb County.

Marisa Rodgers, director of marketing at Visit Macon, said hotels are reaching capacity, as evacuees booked rooms from as early as Sunday.

She added that a number of local businesses are offering discounts to evacuees, which can be viewed on visitmacon.org.