Despite being about 2,000 miles away from where Hurricane Milton is expected to make landfall, Arizonans are keeping a close eye on Florida's Gulf Coast.
While millions evacuate from coastal cities, Tucson resident and American Red Cross Volunteer Pat Wathen is preparing to return to Sarasota after spending two weeks there helping with recovery efforts after Hurricane Helene.
"We were just getting good and started on Helene," Wathen said. "We still have all that damage, and of course, it's going to be doubled up now."
Wathen has volunteered as a damage assessor with the Red Cross since 2021 and was planning to head back to the Grand Canyon State the day Milton was set to make landfall.
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Instead, he evacuated to Tallahassee before going back into the disaster zone.
"There's still a lot of furniture... just stuff that people dragged out of their homes that had been flooded, that's lining the streets. And I'm just afraid now, I think the state is trying to accelerate the pickup, but they're not going to be able to get it all in time. I don't think. And just thinking about all that, that debris being tossed around by another hurricane is, you know, that's going to be that's going to be awful," he said.
However, others decided not to evacuate at all.
Mary Van Hoy's 80-year-old aunt-in-law lives in an old home on Melbourne Beach which is just a block from the ocean and refused to evacuate.
"She has lived there for many, many years, survived many hurricanes, but we're trying to explain to her that nothing is quite like this. One is projected to be her home was built in the 50s. She thinks it will be okay," Wathen said.
Concerned, Van Hoy posted on Facebook Wednesday morning looking for resources near her relative in case she needs them and says the response was incredible.
"You feel so helpless when you're away," Van Hoy said.
She says she spoke to "Aunt Diana" before the storm was set to hit and will continue to pray for her safety and all those in the storm's path.
