FORT MYERS, Fla. — West Michigan native Kiara Swarn, who now lives in Fort Myers, Florida, said her back door was ripped off while Hurricane Milton raged through.
The storm made landfall as a Category 3 in Sarasota, and brought rain, high winds and storm surge to the Fort Myers area.
"Because of on top of the anxiety from the last hurricanes, everybody scrambling around, trying to prepare, and then trying to prepare for a storm and then get unexpected tornadoes. It's like, what do we do?" said Swarn. "You just don't know what to expect. You literally just don't know what to expect, because it's Mother Nature."
Swarn, who originally is from Grand Rapids, said there is minor damage to some of her property after the storm.
She said she and her four kids will evacuate for the next storm. She said the reason she didn't evacuate this time was because gas was scarce and the cost of getting her and her kids out was steep.
"I don't think it's wise to put a put a child through that, power outages, worrying about food shortages and things of that nature," said Swarn. "We couldn't even find gas along I-75 for a 100-mile radius. So if you can imagine trying to maneuver through all of that tragedy, going through the storm and then restoration after it's just, it's really scary."
Swarn said with all the recent storms, like Hurricane Ian and Hurricane Helene, it's frustrating to see devastation time and time again.
Swarn has her own moving service, and says she plans to help out those who need it.
You can help those impacted by both Hurricanes Helene and Milton by clicking here.
