‘My anxiety’s through the roof,’ says woman who stayed at home for Milton

For days, Florida residents were pelted with warnings about a coming storm. Less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene thrashed the US south-east, Hurricane Milton was forecast to make landfall in heavily populated central Florida.

Officials urged residents around the state’s Gulf Coast to clear out, and move further inland.

In a dire message that echoed throughout the state, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said Milton would be “literally catastrophic” to the coastal city.

“I can say without any dramatisation whatsoever: if you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you are going to die,” she said.

But from her home in West Tampa, squarely in the path of the coming storm, Chynna Perkins decided to stay.

It was a gut instinct, she said, after years living through Florida’s storms. Twenty-five miles (40km) east of the sea, and half a mile west of Tampa’s Hillsborough River, she felt protected from any storm surge.

“And then, as far as evacuation zones, we’re in one of the last ones. So, you know, I’m not concerned,” she said.

With her husband, Sterling, she worried about finding accommodation for them both and their two large dogs. “With two dogs over 200lbs (91kg), it’s a big thing,” she said.

And she worried about taking up a hotel space for someone who needed it more.

“It just made more sense to stay here, and ride it out, knowing that our house will be safe. We can deal with the aftermath.”

Through a series of voice notes and calls, Perkins took BBC News through the storm as it barrelled through her community, bringing howling winds and saturating the area with rain.