Hurricane Milton makes landfall; Wisconsin crews on standby
MILWAUKEE - While some transplanted Wisconsinites get set to ride out Hurricane Milton, others from the Badger State are waiting to see if they'll be needed in Florida to help clean up the damage.
For those in Milton's path, including someone who used to call Milwaukee home, they can only wait things out to assess the damage.
While dozens of Wisconsin firefighters and other first responders are also on standby, in case they're needed for search and rescue efforts.
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Of the last three years, in Dunedin, Fla., Bill Zaferos said a little humor helps with hurricanes.
Bill Zaferos said a little humor helps with hurricanes.
"There's a difference between Florida shirts and Hawaiian shirts, I might say," Zaferos said. "I was joking that I was behaving like a northerner with being overly prepared, but I bought things that I knew would be useful, God forbid a hurricane should hit here. And a lot of that is coming into good use now."
With his windows boarded at 52 feet above sea level, Zaferos is now hunkered down as Milton moves in.
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"As I stand out here now, it's actually, you actually do feel a little concerned anyway," he said. "But to think that the worst is yet to come, it's really not a nice thought at all. It's really whipping around here."
Closer to home, Wisconsin Task Force 1 is back from a nine-day deployment to North Carolina as part of recovery efforts for Hurricane Helene.
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Doug Vrechek leads the team that specializes in highly technical calls, like building collapses and swift water rescues.
"We saw things like semi-trucks that were wrapped around trucks 30 feet in the air," Vrechek said. "A lot of roads were blocked, either the culverts or the bridges were washed out or the roads were blocked by trees, so we did a lot of welfare checks — going from house to house making sure that they knew what was going on."
The team's now on standby, should Florida place another call for help.
"At this point now, you almost want to let the storm pass before you bring more people into it because of the whole support system you'll need to provide them," Vrechek said.