Quickly cook a pot of braised pork and eggs, fill the bathtub with water

Do your best!

My home is in Bradenton, south of Tampa (about 1 hour drive) in Florida.

According to the initial forecast, Hurricane Milton was heading north, right into Tampa, causing people here to evacuate in droves. However, by the morning of October 8 (local time), the storm was increasingly moving south (Venice, North Port). Every household hurriedly installed hurricane shutters to cover their main doors and windows.

At around 4:30 p.m. on October 9 (local time), most storm forecasts from major TV stations such as Fox News and ABC News "specifically named" Bradenton as the storm's destination.

I knew from the news that it was over, I just hoped the eyewall wouldn’t be too terrible. Looking at the structure of Milton, one wall had little rain and was thin, but the other was… hell!

Người Việt trong bão Milton: Nấu vội nồi thịt kho trứng, xả nước đầy bồn tắm- Ảnh 1.

Hurricane Milton information is updated bit by bit.

I hurriedly prepared, in general, tried my best! Even though I knew that my neighborhood had almost no water loss, I still stored water. At 3 pm, the whole family took a bath, then filled 2 bathtubs. Plus 1 bathtub in the kitchen.

I cooked a pot of pho, a pot of rice, a pot of braised pork and eggs and made sure the three children ate their fill, because if the power went out, the refrigerator would not be opened again. If the refrigerator and freezer were tightly closed, they would last 24 hours.

At about 8:30 PM that same day, the storm hit Siesta Key, about a 25-minute drive south of my house. At 9:30 PM, the first wave of winds hit, but not too bad because it was only the thin eyewall that hit it.

At around 10:30 pm, the sky was still and windless, birds were chirping, frogs were croaking. My heart almost skipped a beat, because I knew the eye of the storm was coming. A little after 11 pm, as soon as I heard the main door and windows shaking, the wind howling, the power went out immediately.

The whole 3-story building (12 apartments, mine was on the ground floor, overlooking a lake) shook violently. I heard something being blown away outside but all I could see was pitch black.

Người Việt trong bão Milton: Nấu vội nồi thịt kho trứng, xả nước đầy bồn tắm- Ảnh 2.

Bradenton's coastal areas…

Người Việt trong bão Milton: Nấu vội nồi thịt kho trứng, xả nước đầy bồn tắm- Ảnh 3.

It was only when the power went out that I noticed the flashing lights outside the front door and realized the storm had nearly blown it open. My husband and I quickly pulled the dining table out to block the door.

Actually, we didn't dare look much, for fear that something outside would fly into our glass windows. Inside, we pulled the curtains so that if the glass broke, it wouldn't fly into our faces.

After Hurricane Andrew in 2002, the state of Florida enacted new hurricane-resistant building codes. Any home built after 2002 must have multiple layers of wire to anchor the roof to the metal frame.

Even though I knew for sure that the glass windows were hurricane-proof (as required by the building code), I was still scared to death because we had small children. The family of five hid in the most private bedroom, listening to the howling wind outside.

Terrible damage

The news said Milton had winds of 120 mph when it passed my house, and was moving at a speed of 15 mph . Milton produced numerous tornadoes, hitting a series of inland areas such as Lakeland, Fort Pierce, Clewiston, West Palm Beach…

The rain was incredibly heavy, with some areas reaching 470 mm in just a few hours. There were areas near Tampa that were forecast to be safe, so the elderly and disabled were taken to shelter. Who would have thought that the water would rise to 1.2 m, not from the sea but from rainwater. Many people were soaked all night because they could not move.

Storm Milton rips off stadium roof, topples giant crane

Besides rain and wind, there is another problem: rising sea levels due to storms, which means storm winds carry seawater from the outside deep into the mainland through the river system, canals, etc.

Even though it is located inland, any area with one of these types of water mains is still at risk of flooding. Additionally, Interstate 75 (I-75) crosses the Manatee River , and when sea levels rise, the bridge is at risk of collapsing.

Behind my house is about 5 km is the Manatee River , the largest river that drains Tampa Bay into the canal system inside. Therefore, my house is in flood risk zone A (risk level is ranked from AF, the risk decreases as we go further).

Người Việt trong bão Milton: Nấu vội nồi thịt kho trứng, xả nước đầy bồn tắm- Ảnh 4.

A house in Anna Maria before…

Người Việt trong bão Milton: Nấu vội nồi thịt kho trứng, xả nước đầy bồn tắm- Ảnh 5.

Người Việt trong bão Milton: Nấu vội nồi thịt kho trứng, xả nước đầy bồn tắm- Ảnh 6.

Garbage truck flies onto roof in West Palm Beach

As of today, many storm-affected areas are still cleaning up. Children in Manatee County are out of school from October 7 through October 15 and are at risk of missing more as 33 schools in the county are being used as shelters.

Quick electrical repairs

Less than 24 hours after the storm hit, my house had electricity back. Perhaps the authorities anticipated the situation and mobilized manpower to fix the electricity as soon as the storm passed.

I remember during Hurricane Irma in 2017, the power was out for almost a week. No one thought the power would be out for that long, so all the food in the fridge was spoiled. It was August, Florida was 33-35 degrees Celsius, the house had no electricity, no water, no wind, and the kitchen smelled horrible, a month later it still hadn’t completely gone away.

This time, at around 7:30 pm on October 10 (local time), about a day after the storm, the power came back on. When I opened the refrigerator, I saw that the lower compartment was still cool and the ice in the freezer had not melted.

Người Việt trong bão Milton: Nấu vội nồi thịt kho trứng, xả nước đầy bồn tắm- Ảnh 7.

Police rescue victims in Hillsborough County

Hurricane Milton makes landfall: Winds swirl, water rises

"Sacrifice" Island

Anna Maria is one of Florida's barrier islands. It was created to "hold back" storms, allowing inland areas a chance to evacuate and reduce damage. As such, it is not recommended to build or live there. Anna Maria was devastated by Hurricane Helene in late September, and before it could be repaired, Hurricane Milton swept through.