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Families fleeing Florida ahead of Hurricane Milton gather at a rest area in Macon, Ga., about 90 miles south of Atlanta on Oct. 8, 2024.
Credit: Grant Blankenship / GPB News
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VOICES: Hurricane Milton evacuees arrive in Georgia to weather a historic storm
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LISTEN: On Tuesday in Macon, families made their way to the center of the state — and hoped the best for the Florida communities they left behind. GPB's Grant Blankenship heard their voices.
Hurricane Milton is expected to remain an extremely dangerous major hurricane when it reaches the west-central coast of Florida tonight and through Thursday. GEMA officials reported that most Georgia hotels south of Atlanta are full as thousands arrive seeking shelter (see our guide for evacuees here).
In Macon Tuesday, families made their way to the center of the state — and hoped the best for the Florida communities they left behind.
GPB's Grant Blankenship spoke with the travelers.
Three generations of the Baena-Martinez family of Tampa stopped at a Macon, Ga., rest area to share a late lunch/early dinner on the tailgate of one of the trucks in their family convoy as they evacuated ahead of Hurricane Milton.
"It's not fun and jokes," said Gisel Martinez, traveling with her two kids. "It's really like you're leaving, you're leaving your life behind, so you don't know, like where you're going to come back to or even if you're going to be able to come back."
Felicia Mendez had been on the road since Monday when she stopped at an interstate rest area in Macon on her way to Nashville Tuesday. Mendez said she fared better than her friends during Hurricane Helene but is taking no chances with Milton.
"I wasn't personally affected," she said of Helene. "I know people that were. Lost everything. Five feet of water in their homes, lost their cars, everything. So, yeah, it's not a joke. When they tell you to go, go. It's not a joke. It's serious."
Adam Myers of Port Charlotte, Fla., filled up his truck at a rest stop in Macon from a jerry can in the bed Tuesday afternoon. He said he saw many evacuees stranded looking for gas on Interstate 75 north driving through Monday night.
"I saw a lot of cars that didn't get gas ahead of time and went out on the road," he said. "And then so you see them on the side of the road. You know, I started out, I'm going to say like 11:00 at night, and it was just nothing but like cars, like bouncing back and forth between each side of the road."
Kelsey and Brent Yantzer left Tampa with their two daughters at 8 p.m. Monday and, by 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, had made it as far north as Macon.
"We found a rest area," Kelsey said. "There's no hotels. But right after we got into Georgia, around 5 a.m. and we slept for two hours. We're lucky we got a parking space. Like people were parked wherever they could."
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