Inside the agonising countdown to Hurricane Milton: The Mails GREG WOODFIELD reveals how killer hurricane headed right for his home - but WHAT happened in the aftermath?
As deadly Hurricane Milton barrelled towards me and my wife on Wednesday evening, the heightened tension was borderline unbearable.
As deadly Hurricane Milton barrelled towards me and my wife on Wednesday evening, the heightened tension was borderline unbearable.
With a countdown of less than three hours to landfall, we still didnt know if our four-bedroom home in Florida would or would not take a direct hit from the 125mph winds.
Wed been timidly hopeful amid the rollercoaster of information gushing from local television coverage for days.
It needed to head south for our house in a quiet enclave in north-western Tampa Bay to dodge the most deadly and destructive path, a narrow five-to-ten-mile width of unbearable dread.
But with just 180 minutes to go, Milton suddenly bumped a shade north. The change happened in real-time on TV. As we watched the National Hurricane Centres tracker, that little black line felt like it had our future in its grasp.
Greg Woodfield (pictured with his wife Luz Stella) at first believed they could ride out the storm at their Florida home - before the predictions got worse and worse
Debris litters a road at Treasure Island, Florida on October 10 following the hurricane
Cars are submerged in flooding from Hurricane Milton in Tampa
Sunny Shores Mobile Home Park was damaged in Hurricane Milton
Satellite picture of Hurricane Milton captured at 7:51 UTC (8:51 UK BST) as it approaches Florida on Wednesday
Our anxiety grew as we followed the development from the modern hotel in mid-town Tampa where wed sought refuge – along with hordes of others who had left their homes to the mercy of nature.
Yet for many among the three million or so who live in the Tampa Bay area, the shift must have provided a spark of relief. For them, a north bump gave hope. One mans escape is anothers catastrophe in the hurricane business. We would know, because four others have devastated Floridas west coast since we moved here three years ago from Miami.
And that feeling of relief only brings a genuine bout of guilt among Floridians, who pull together in these times of deadly emergency.
With only hours to go until the hurricane made landfall, Milton was now heading towards our neighbourhood with a vengeance. We knew our faint hopes of escaping the worst could be lost, along with the dreams any couple has for their home and future.
Whatever its course, we were in the cone of uncertainty, which meant hurricane-force winds regardless of the final mood of Milton. There was nothing we could do but watch. As we remained glued to the television, the winds outside our hotel began gusting to around 50mph and the rain that had begun in the morning – as a foretaste of what was to come – intensified alarmingly.
A vehicle drives though a flooded street after Hurricane Milton, in Siesta Key, Florida, on October 10
This satellite image shows the formation of Hurricane Milton over the Gulf of Mexico
A Coast Guard Air Station Miami helicopter crew rescues a man, on October 10, approximately 30 miles off Longboat Key, Florida, following Hurricane Milton
People rescue a pig from floodwater caused by Hurricane Milton on October 11
A completely destroyed house in Lakewood Park, Florida, after a tornado hit the area
An airplane is flipped upside down at the Venice Municipal Airport after Hurricane Milton
Milton hit as a Category 3 storm with wind speeds of up to 129mph at 8.30pm local time, the central destructive band smashing into Siesta Key, an island off Sarasota and just south of Tampa Bay.
Ultimately, I will not say we were relieved. At least 16 people have lost their lives. Four died in tornadoes while two others perished in St Petersburg, just north of Sarasota.
Our hotel stood strong through the worst of it despite the incredible roar of the winds outside, which intensified into the early hours. Even through the hurricane-resistant windows, the noise was deafening.
During the night, I received an extreme wind warning message on my phone for where we live. Local meteorologist Denis Phillips had warned that if you get one of those, its serious.
Our area was now in the super-powerful northern wall of the storms eye.
This turned out to mean wind gusts close to 110mph blasting our house and an astonishing ten inches of rain in just a few hours.
A drone view shows destroyed beach houses after Hurricane Milton made landfall in Manasota Key, Florida
A tattered American flag flies upside down form a flagpole in Clearwater Beach, Florida
Keith and his wife Angel, check on their sailboat that ended up on the sidewalk near Sarasota Bay after Hurricane Milton
A man shovels dirt into a wheelbarrow in front of his house in Tampa, Florida
After Milton had passed, we drove from our hotel with trepidation through the heavily flooded roads.
We had already been through enough emotion. Packing the car to escape with our most precious possessions and the documents that would be essential to carrying on with life if everything else was lost.
Filming the house for insurance purposes only to realise this could be the last time we saw it like that. It had been an ordeal.
Thankfully, were still standing – even if the fences were blown down.
The house escaped huge damage, and we are grateful for the relatively new roof and hurricane windows. We dodged the bullet, but our neighbours were not so lucky – losing a large section of their roof.
Meanwhile, the local petrol station was ripped to pieces.
The worry for us now is flooding. Were well away from the effects of storm surge, which did not materialise in the way it was feared.
Yet we are at the mercy of a water system that has swamped the nature reserve beside our house. The road leading to our community had a foot of water in places and its still there as I write. Only an SUV stood any chance of navigating it yesterday morning.
Bayou West resident Mary Singer, 82, and friend Brita Gwynn, 84, try to salvage items after the hurricane
People walk in the water as the streets are flooded in the Seminole Heights area of Tampa
Two men move a sofa in Tampa, Florida, as people remove debris and clean their homes
A woman collects debris caused by the destruction of the tornados path in Cocoa Beach, Florida, on October 10
The nearby horse-racing track resembles a decent-sized lake. Tampa was still recovering from deadly Hurricane Helene, which hit only two weeks ago. Some of those who were inundated with up to nine feet of water during that horrific event are now battling new floods outside their homes.
The force of the winds has uprooted giant trees in the coastal Dana Shores area, which was devastated by Helene.
But while many areas of Tampa Bay are reeling from yet another disaster, oddly other parts of the city appear untouched. No trees down, hardly any debris and zero flooding. That is the fickle nature of these beasts.
Within hours of Milton, folk in my neighbourhood were back on the pickleball courts. At the race track, a couple turned up with a canoe to make the most of the new water facility.
Crazy? It is, after all, Florida.
