British nationals in Florida have said they were “preparing for the worst” as Hurricane Milton made landfall on the west coast of the state late on Wednesday night.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said there was an increasing risk of a life-threatening storm surge on the west coast, and heavy rainfall and high winds are expected to affect large parts of Florida.
Kate Collins, 52, told the PA news agency she is not living in a mandatory evacuation zone but has gathered supplies for the hurricane, including a generator, batteries, lanterns, food, and water.
Ms Collins, who was raised in Plymouth and moved to Florida 30 years ago, said she is sheltering with five people and five dogs in her home in Volusia County, which is under mandatory curfew from 8pm local time on Wednesday.
“The mood in the house is definite anxiety. Preparing for the worst and hoping for the best,” Ms Collins said.
She said: “After 30 years I do think you become complacent but this one had me concerned from the start - call it a gut feeling but I did prepare early enough.
“Some neighbours have boarded their windows and it is eerily quiet. Store shelves are pretty empty and the majority of essentials like water and gas for cars and batteries are hard if not impossible to find.”
Ms Collins said she has experienced several hurricanes in Florida but “nothing quite like this since Charley in 2004”, when she lost part of her roof and was without power for several days.
“I am far less concerned about my house than the safety of my family and friends. You can replace material items but not loss of life. Of course it would be devastating but we can rebuild,” she said.
“We just experienced Helene which left our neighbours to the north and west of us in a critical situation with no time to dry out and clean up.
“There is no doubt that our state will experience devastating loss due to the size and intensity of this storm, we can only pray that it does not include loss of lives.”
British national Mark Firth, 43, told PA that he took a flight out of Lakeland - about a 45-minute drive from Tampa - on Sunday to evacuate with his wife and two children aged seven and five because he was worried about the potential effects of the hurricane.
The entrepreneur, from Nottingham, said: “Everything’s at home. I mean, it’s not ideal, it’s very unsettling, it’s very uncertain about what is going to be there when we get back.
“We’re not on the coast but we decided that we wanted to leave anyway, because it’s the power, it’s the infrastructure and also, I believe, having the ability to get out, we should leave the resources for the people who need to stay.”
He said his neighbours in Lakeland were taking the hurricane “way more seriously than I’ve seen them take it before”, with some people boarding up their houses and getting generators.
Mr Firth experienced Hurricane Ian in Florida in 2022, which “went over us directly and shook the house”, he said, adding that the sound of the winds was like a train going by.
As he had only recently moved to Florida, he had “no idea” how powerful Hurricane Ian would be and said: “By the time we figured out it’s going to come over us, it was already too late.”
“I said to myself, I’m not going to let this happen again, even if there’s an inkling something’s coming, I’m going to leave.”
“I don’t want to go through that this time,” he said.
He had a “gut feeling” his home was going to be okay but was “very worried” for the people of Florida.
“It’s terrible. It’s really terrible,” he said.
