Hurricane Milton made landfall in Siesta Key late Wednesday, 70 miles south of Tampa. Millions are without power, including Meteorologist Sabrina Ullman’s grandfather, Jerry. 

He lives in an assisted living facility in Lakeland, about an hour east of Tampa. Hurricane Milton was a category three when it made landfall but weakened to a category one storm by the time it passed through Lakeland. 

“Everything’s back to normal other than the power. Other than the power, we’re not able to go down to the dining room to eat, you know, so we’re getting boxed meals. Of course they’re not warm. It’s food. We’re not gonna starve,” said Jerry. “They’re doing the best they can, you know. I’m not blaming them. I’m not gonna criticize them. But, you know, they seem to do things pretty well in order. It’s just, you know, the inconvenience of the storm.”

The worst-case scenario for Hurricane Milton would have been a direct hit in Tampa. Sabrina’s close friend Maggie Sills lives in Tampa and works at a hospital there. With an evacuation order in their area, Maggie, her boyfriend Chase, and their dogs Ollie and Maple evacuated to Chase’s parents’ home in Orlando. 

“I think hindsight’s 2020, we probably would have been fine. But based off all the ring camera footage and stuff, we would have been stuck, said Maggie. “So had we made the wrong choice, we wouldn’t have been able to leave. So I think it’s for the best that we left just in case but the storm was awful last night even in Orlando so I can’t imagine it here.”

They returned home Thursday, only finding a small leak. A drive that usually takes two hours took around four. 

“A lot of people were driving on the curb like making the extra lane to go home. Oh it was awful,” said Maggie. “A lot of flooding on our way home, we took a wrong turn and we had to turn around because there were wires down, and there was such bad flooding.”

Maggie says she doesn’t know anyone in her area who has power. She returned to work Thursday night as part of the hospital’s recovery team. 

Meanwhile, Jerry is maintaining normalcy by still finding a way to read, even as the sun sets.

“What I’m going to do, not far from you as an elevator, and they have lights there all the time,” said Jerry. “If they’re still on after it gets dark, I’ve got a chair on, my little chair on wheels. I’m gonna take it over there with a book that I’m gonna read. Otherwise, I go nuts sitting here, you know, in the dark.”