Fort Myers Beach empties out ahead of Hurricane Milton

AccuWeather

The vast majority of people AccuWeather's Ali Reid spoke to in Fort Myers Beach are taking Milton seriously, packing up and seeking somewhere safer to stay.

Transcript

00:00It's been rather quiet here in Fort Myers Beach and I'm taking that as a positive sign.

00:05So many residents here in this area said we're not going to chance this storm.

00:09They are listening to local officials and they are evacuating.

00:12In fact, I want to show you this street here.

00:14This is a popular street with a number of restaurants, shops, businesses.

00:18As you can see, every single business here on this street just alone,

00:23boarded up and there is no one here in sight.

00:26It is quiet.

00:27In fact, that is exactly what we're seeing all across the Fort Myers Beach area.

00:31There are very little residents actually left here.

00:34Majority of the movement that we're seeing in this area is going to be contractors,

00:38public works officials, as they are trying to clean up as much as possible

00:42from past storms like Helene, even all the way back to Hurricane Ian in 2022.

00:48They're grabbing that debris because they know that if storm surge

00:51reaches 10 feet, even eight feet or even below that,

00:55this could be catastrophic for this area.

00:57And they are very familiar with what that could look like,

01:00that destruction left behind from previous storms.

01:03Now dealing with this once again, the people here, they're used to it.

01:07But I think that there's a feeling this time around that isn't like past storms.

01:11Now, we spoke to a business owner earlier.

01:13He says in previous storms, he's lost a number of his businesses

01:17and just says, here we go once again.

01:19Take a listen.

01:19Here we are again.

01:21It's unfortunate, but this is the cost of believing close to the ocean.

01:26The only thing we can do is just pray for the best,

01:29try to prepare as much as we can, and stay safe.

01:33I encourage everybody in the island to get out of here.

01:37This is a life-threatening storm.

01:40Everybody who can get out of the island should be doing it as soon as possible.

01:50Now, some other video that I want to show for you guys as well.

01:53This was earlier, Public Works removing the Times Square clock

01:56prior to Hurricane Milton's arrival.

01:58Again, we were talking about removing that debris.

02:00The town's contractor is working diligently to remove a lot of that from Helene,

02:06now heading into landfall for Milton.

02:07Now, they'll continue through tomorrow, weather permitting.

02:10They also implemented a curfew here in town beginning at 10 o'clock this evening.

02:14And earlier today, over at the Target here in town,

02:17the local authorities there were giving out hurricane re-entry passes

02:21that were for residents only so that when the storm does pass,

02:24they are able to get back onto the island.

02:27So they do have a number of things already in place.

02:29Now, let's bring you back live across the way here.

02:32Again, we've been seeing cars like this.

02:34A lot of them are police in this area.

02:36But in the distance, one more thing I want to show you.

02:38That is a pier there, or what used to be a pier.

02:41In fact, that was damaged back in 2022 for Ian.

02:45Again, we were talking about the destruction that this town has unfortunately faced.

02:49And many, many hurricanes in the past,

02:51these residents are familiar with what these storms can bring.

02:55But again, the overall conversations we've been having this time around is

02:58they are not sticking it out.

03:00They are leaving.

03:00They are evacuating and listening to local officials

03:03because they know this one could potentially be a lot worse for Ian.

03:09Thank you, Ali.

03:10And if I could just ask you a question really quickly,

03:13because you mentioned earlier that people are getting out,

03:18which is the good news.

03:19Do you still see people evacuating still?

03:23Do you think people are mostly taking those heed for those evacuation orders?

03:32Yeah, Bri, I would say that there are still a few people here in town,

03:35but very, very little.

03:36The people that are still here are the ones that are trying to pack up as quickly as possible.

03:40The ones that have seen some pretty significant damage in the past.

03:43They're getting friends and family onto the island here

03:47to grab their belongings to get out.

03:49And in fact, no one that we've spoken to today

03:51has said that they are sticking it out in this area.

03:54Majority of those people are leaving.

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