‘All we can do is hope for the best’: Floridians prepare for Hurricane Milton

Brandon Drenon
US reporter

Hurricane Milton’s arrival is coming at a vulnerable moment for many Americans.

I recently returned from North Carolina, one of multiple states in turmoil after Hurricane Helene ripped through the US’s south-east less than two weeks ago.

At least 225 people have so far been confirmed killed by the storm, which also hit South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia. North Carolina saw some of the most severe damage and had the highest death toll – killing at least 116 in the state.

Driving through the state’s renowned mountainous western region, I saw entire buildings reduced to rubble, massive trees split into pieces, and power lines strewn across streets lined with piles of rubbish.

Cinda Galgano, whose home was among a dozen in a trailer park that was wrecked by flood waters, said she had to be rescued by boat. She returned to her home in Boone days later, where we met.

Standing in the living room, floor covered in mud and belongings scattered everywhere, she told me: “The bed, the mattress is ruined. The floors are buckling in. Water went into my refrigerator, my dryer. It got into everything.”

The freshness of Helene’s wounds is certainly still on the
mind’s of those in Florida, as Milton draws nearer. “Unfortunately some of the Helene victims are in the path
of this storm,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said at a press conference yesterday.