‘Hope for the best’: Qld family bunkers down amid Hurricane Milton chaos

A former Queensland family living in Florida has told of warnings for people inside the Hurricane Milton impact zone to write their names, date of birth and next of kin on their arms in permanent pen.

A former Queensland family was bunkering down as monster hurricane Milton made landfall.

Former Tannum Sands residents Graham and Rita Caven were in Naples, Florida, as Category 3 Hurricane Milton hit. It had been downgraded from a Cat 5.

While Naples appeared to be on the edge of the severe storm, which packed winds over 200km/h, residents in the evacuation area of the city were told to leave immediately, while those outside were told to be ready.

While Mr and Ms Caven live outside the evacuation zone, Mr Caven told The Courier-Mail residents in the evacuation area who refused to leave were given a dire warning as Milton approached.

Former Tannum Sand residents Graham and Rita Caven bunkering down for Hurricane Milton. Photo: Supplied

“People have been told in evacuation zones that if they don’t evacuate to write their name, date of birth and next of kin in permanent marker on their arms,” he said before the hurricane made landfall.

“We had the sheriff come on the TV, and the sheriff says, ‘If anybody isn’t moving, please use a permanent marker and put your name, your date of birth and the next of kin on your arms’.

“They said, ‘because one thing’s for certain, when the storm’s over, we won’t be coming in to find you’.”

Hurricane shutters on the home of Graham and Rita Caven in Naples, Florida. Photo: Supplied

As the storm churned towards Florida, a notice to stay off the roads was issued in the city, as reports of major flooding emerge in Naples.

Mr Caven said before Milton made landfall 116 tornado warnings had been issued in the area impacted by Hurricane Milton, with 16 touching down so far.

“There’s lots of tornadoes. I get a warning to my phone and it’ll tell me a tornado is in the area and yeah there are lots of them,” he said.

“I can hear the wind outside, the wind outside is really bad now.”

A Tornado Warning that was issued in Collier County ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Milton. Photo: Supplied

Mr Caven said he had been preparing for the hurricane for several days.

“I put all the shutters up. When I came home from work the other day most of the street had their hurricane shutters up so I’ve put mine up and it’s the first time being here I’ve done that,” he said.

“Our cafe is in Evacuation Zone B, with the business we have closed until Friday and have chained up all the outside furniture and placed sandbags by the door.”

Graham and Rita Caven have safely stored possessions ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Milton. Photo: Supplied

Mr Caven said he also stocked up on basic supplies.

“We have bought food and lots of water,” he said.

“We went into the supermarket yesterday (Tuesday US time), there was no water left, there was no toilet roll left, people just buy everything from the shelves.

“Most of the gas stations are out of gas because they tell people to obviously stack up on gas, there was people running out of gas on the motorway as they were trying to head to Miami.

“The queues down towards Miami was just tail to tail. It usually takes two hours to get to Miami by car. I’ve seen looking taking up to four and a half hours.

“All we can do here is get ready the best we can, prepare for the worst and hope for the best.”