HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — With Hurricane Milton rushing towards Florida's Gulf Coast, Hoosiers living there are among the one million people asked to get of out the storm's path.
Some Hoosiers evacuated. Other decided to stay.
Shawn Heinen bought a home in Bradenton back in May. He lives in Indy, but was fixing up his new Floridian home not far from the Manatee River. This week, he spent two days buckling down the hatches ahead of Hurricane Milton.
"I taped all the doors off and put sandbags on all the door entries," said Heinen. "I picked up everything on the house on the first floor."
Once all the chores were complete, Heinen headed south to take shelter at a friend's home in Naples. Hurricane Helene did not damage Heinen's home, but he knows this time around could be a different story.
"This one looks to be a direct hit, unfortunately," Heinen said.
About 30 minutes down the road, Carmel's Morgan Ashley has lived in Sarasota for six years. Helene did not damage her apartment, but Ashley says she is not taking any chances with Milton.
"I stocked up on water," said Ashley. "Pots of water. The bathtub full."
In Sarasota, like other parts of the state, gasoline is becoming a major concern, Ashley says.
"There really hasn't been any gas since I think Monday morning," Ashley said.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Ashley's apartment was not in a mandatory evacuation zone, so she decided to stay.
"The traffic on the highway is so bad going north that I don't want to get stuck on the highway and stranded," said Ashley.
Northeast of Tampa, Suzy Smith cares for a home in Zephyrhills. The Ball State University professor flew into town over the weekend to check on her property and prepare for Hurricane Milton. Her flight home, however, was cancelled when local airports shut down.
"By then, you couldn't find a flight," Smith said.
Smith and a friend decided to drive to Atlanta late Monday to catch another flight home on Tuesday. The drive that typically takes less than 8 hours took more than 12, Smith says.
"It was tough to find a hotel room," said Smith, "because there are already people even in south Georgia that are displaced from the floods and the storm from Helene that are still having to deal with not being in their homes."
On Tuesday afternoon, Hurricane Milton intensifies, again, into a Category 5 storm.
"My family has been super concerned, obviously," said Ashley. "That's what is making me a little nervous is that even the people that have lived here forever are like, 'yeah, you should probably go.'"
"I'm lucky," said Smith. "No matter what happens, I'm going to have a home to go to tonight."
"Everyone is doing the best they can," said Ashley. "Everyone here really is trying to help everyone else out."