A Cleveland-area native hunkered down Wednesday as Hurricane Milton moved into the Tampa area. Ryan Yearick-Zinn grew up in Chesterland but has called Florida home for 21 years. He lives in Riverview, an area not under mandatory evacuation, approximately 17 miles inland from Tampa.
Yearick-Zinn has been through hurricanes before.
“We just went through this two weeks ago with Hurricane Helene,” he said. “This one is different because the track has not shifted, for the most part, within the last five or six days.”
On Wednesday morning, the only thing left for Yearick-Zinn to do was wait. All the windows in his house are boarded up, and emergency supplies are ready. The hurricane was expected to make landfall late Wednesday or early Thursday.
"It's dark but we have lights and candles and batteries,” he said. “And we have a generator that doesn’t work the AC, but it does power the lights and most importantly the refrigerator."
The worst part, he said, is not knowing how the hurricane will impact his house.
"We're not worried about the water… but we are worried about the wind and the age of our roof, so that was something of concern,” he said.
As Yearick-Zinn waits for the impact, he admitted he has little control.
“Is it time to open a bottle of wine yet?” he responded when asked what was going through his mind. “What else can you really do? Like I said, I just hope for the best and prepare for the worst.”
