Hurricane Milton evacuees from Florida arrive at San Francisco
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KGO) -- Some families evacuating Florida flew here to the Bay Area.
Marcus Vargas of Redwood City is relieved to be back in California. He's a chef who was in the Florida Keys helping with the Sea Scouts program when things started getting pretty hairy because of Hurricane Milton.
"The people I was working for, they are on high alert. It's scary out there," said Vargas. "Everything is getting pretty serious out there - like gas shortages."
Vargas decided to drive to Miami and fly back to the Golden State.
"It's pretty stressful. I'm a California boy. I'm used to being out here. Hurricanes are new to me," said Vargas.
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But Vargas continues to worry about his family and friends.
"I have my cousin in Coco Beach, my other cousin in West Palm, my friends in Sarasota, Tampa," said Vargas.
"Cape Coral is a little bit south of Sarasota," said Gigi Allen.
Allen and her family evacuated from Cape Coral near Fort Myers.
"We are in Cape Coral right there. So, they say its hitting or about to hit right in here," said Allen.
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Because all the local airports were closed, they headed to Miami to catch a flight to SFO. The Allen family used to live in the Bay Area.
After what happened during Hurricane Helene, they didn't want to take any chances.
A coconut tree came down on their home a few weeks ago. So before heading to the Bay Area, the Allen family took some extra measures to protect their home.
"That's our back sliding glass doors with the hurricane shutters on it," said Brent Allen.
The Allens also reduced the water level of their pool by about 6 inches to make room for extra rainwater.
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Meanwhile, Bay Area rescue teams are heading east.
A 26-person ground crew just left with trucks filled with supplies. They are heading to Florida to help in the aftermath of the storm.
California Task Force 3 is an urban search and rescue team based in Menlo Park that will be helping out.
San Francisco Fire Department also sent several members along with four search dogs.
"What these dogs do, is these dogs search for people. If they get a hit, they're able to locate a person and then the USAR teams will go in and breach concrete or lift heavy wooden objects off of someone that may be trapped," said Lt. Mariano Elias with SFFD.
VIDEO: Former Bay Area residents in Fla. thankful to be safe
Among those who fled the Tampa area include former East Bay residents Josie Dalldorf and her boyfriend Michael.
The pair relocated to Florida back in June.
On Tuesday, they packed up their belongings and drove to Jacksonville to get out of Milton's path.
"It took us 5.5 hours. And it said it was only supposed to take 3 hours and 25 minutes. But because of all the traffic, everyone evacuating, the craziness in Orlando, it took us 5.5 hours," Dalldorf said.
Dalldorf says coming from California, the back-to-back hurricanes of Helene and now Milton have been terrifying and unlike anything she's ever experienced in the past.
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She tells me she and Michael have been closely following the developments around Tampa and are unsure of when they'll be able to go back home.
"We have our hotel room until at least Friday morning. I don't know if we need to extend it if we will be able to," Dalldorf said.
Beyond the timeline, Dalldorf says there's also other unknowns facing the couple in the coming hours too.
But for now, she's just thankful to be safe.
"We also don't know what the state of our house will be when we get back," she said. "Or if we're going to be able to get back, if the roads are going to be clear or flooded. Or if we'll have power."
