British mum in Florida explains devastating reason why she's unable to flee Hurricane Milton
Topics: Hurricane Milton, US News, World News, Weather
Jess Hardiman
Featured Image Credit: ITV
Topics: Hurricane Milton, US News, World News, Weather
A British woman who lives in Florida has spoken out about the devastating reason why she’s unable to flee the disastrous effects of Hurricane Milton, despite being told to leave her home by officials.
The hurricane made landfall last night in Florida as a Category 3 storm, tearing through the coast with powerful winds and severe flooding.
Many locals had been advised to leave their homes to get to safer areas, but some people – for various reasons – have either been unable to do so, or have simply chosen to stay put.
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Sharon Keeble is among those who have been forced to stay, saying she’s spent the past few days getting her home ready for the expected onslaught.
The British national lives in Lake County, which is further inland than some of the worst-affected spots.
However, Hurricane Milton is still expected to cause serious damage as it works its way through the state, meaning she’s worried that she and her two daughters could experience huge destruction as they try to sit it out.
Speaking to Good Morning Britain earlier this morning, she explained: “I have my two daughters and also my four dogs – we're all in the middle of the house.
“We’ve deemed that the safest place. We’ve boarded up all the windows out the back and onto my patio, which leads onto my lounge. It’s taken us a couple of days to get the place ready, so we think we’re okay but obviously we’re not going to know until the morning.
“I feel like we’re going to lose a lot of branches [...] Also the roof – it's been hammering on the roof. I’m expecting to have lost some of the roof.”
Sharon said they were ‘used to’ having hurricanes, saying the last major one they’d experienced was back in 2017.
“We have an emergency planning department in Lake County, which is where I live,” she explained.
“I have a single-storey home, I’m not in a flooding area, so that’s really good. "However, we've had so much rain, my pathway outside is flooded right now. But we get a lot of guidance from the state, from local authorities, so you’re not just left on your own.”
She said officials told locals to leave, but that her family has had to stay put as the storm rages on around them.
“We were advised if we can to get out,” Sharon continued.
“However, we’re not near the water, so we're definitely a lot safer inland, thankfully. I feel terrible for the people on water because I feel like they’re not going to escape any of this, because the rain is so heavy, and the wind as well.
“I know a few people, though, who have left, and I did have the opportunity to leave, to go with a very good friend of mine to Virginia - who actually was hit by Hurricane Helene - but the roads out of here were gridlocked so we chose to stay.”
Presenter Susanna Reid asked if her ‘two grown-up daughters and four dogs’ played a ‘big factor’ in her decision to stay put.
“Absolutely,” Sharon replied, saying ‘there’s no way’ they’d have realistically been able to escape.
“We’d have had to have taken two vehicles, which is more gas- there's no gas anywhere round near me at the moment. Everywhere is sold out. So even if we would've left, we would not have got far.
“There were people who left on Sunday and Monday and they got stuck with no gas on I-75, which is one of the main roads north of us, and they got stuck. So with all of that, all of our dogs, we just had to stay really.
“We also do have a horse at a barn, and we didn’t want to leave him either.”