TAVARES, FL (352today.com) – Hurricane Milton’s wrath has disrupted the lives of millions of Floridians.
Residents of Lake County were impacted by the storm, with many leaving their homes to stay in hotels and shelters as they waited for the aftermath. They used common sense by staying off the roads to avoid dangers, which helped those responsible for clearing debris and restoring power to do their work.
“At this time, what we’re trying to emphasize to folks is that they do need to kind of make way for first responders and our emergency crews, whether it’s our public works staff that are doing their first push road clearing operation or the utility companies that are trying to get critical infrastructure back online, but are also trying to get everybody else’s power back on,” said Megan Milanese, Lake County Emergency Management director.
The inconvenience can be challenging, as a return to one’s normal routine may take days, due to the high volume of power outages, downed power lines, uprooted trees and debris, that are cluttering area roadways.
“‘Patience is the word of the day,” said Milanese. “This has been a very impactful event for the county and much of the state. We’re not the only ones going through this right now. My team is working very hard to get us back to normal as soon as we possibly can, but it’s going to take a little bit of cooperation and patience from our residents to make that happen quickly, efficiently and effectively.”
The storm had a strong effect on all the residents of the county, and Milton’s presence was felt by many.
“We do have damage and debris being reported county wide,” said Milanese. “As of right now we have a little over half of our county currently without power.”