News / ‘Like living in the Twisters movie’: family holed up in Florida hotel room as hurricane hits
A FAMILY from the South Mainland have endured a scary start to their Florida holiday after Hurricane Milton smashed through the state.
Sean and Hayley Mackenzie arrived in Orlando with their two boys earlier this week to stark warnings about the severity of the coming storm.
President Joe Biden called it the “storm of the century”, while the mayor of Tampa – an hour away from Orlando – told locals to evacuate or “you are going to die”.
Sean said they had seen news reports before they left for Florida about the potential hurricane, and had even asked their travel agent if they should still go.
“They said, ‘no it will be fine’. The hotel was the same, they said it will be fine.
“People were saying on the news, ‘it’s going to die right down by the time it gets to shore’.
“Me and my wife were watching it, and we didn’t know what to do, but before they were not cancelling the flight we thought then it’s safe.”
Sean said they had a “smooth journey” across the Atlantic, and when they arrived in Orlando the weather was so nice “you wouldn’t have even known anything was brewing”.
But immediately after arriving they were told to “go and get supplies” as the severity of Hurricane Milton became clearer.
“I have an uncle in Texas who told me what to go and get,” Sean said.
“I went out at 6pm to get stuff only to find that the first shop was closing early due to the weather.
“I finally found one, which was actually a liquor store, and grabbed what I could get, which was mostly water and food.”
The family of four hunkered down in their hotel room on Orlando’s International Drive, close to Walt Disney World Resort, as Hurricane Milton neared the Florida shore.
“We watched the news all day yesterday and it was a bit worrying,” Sean admitted.
“Me and Hayley have had anxiety about it, but we haven’t made it obvious.
“The boys just knew the weather was crap, they can hear the wind on the windows here and could see the rain.”
Sean said that the biggest fright for the family had not actually been the weather outside the window, but the flooding alerts being delivered direct to his phone by Orlando officials.
“Loads of tornado warnings started coming in about midday yesterday, but luckily none of them were aiming at where we are directly,” he added.
“There was about 120 yesterday, which is nearly double the most there has ever been in a day before.
“Last night we were sleeping in the bed, we could hear the rain and wind on the window but it was nothing we weren’t that used to, it didn’t worry me too much.
“But it was the flood alerts that woke me up through the night – the phone’s been going absolutely mental, they’re so loud. That freaked me out more than the weather.”
Sean said he watched rain running down the road from their window, but there had been no signs of any major damage.
While others across Florida were being evacuated from their homes and hotels, Sean and his family were urged to remain where they were.
And he said they were encouraged after it emerged that locals were being moved from areas like Tampa to their hotel – because Orlando was considered safer.
“The fact that locals were actually coming here, that reassured me a bit,” he said.
“They were very laid back, saying ‘don’t worry about it, you’ll be safe here’.
“It had been worrying, but hearing them say that made us feel so much better.”
Today (Thursday), the weather had already began to ease in Orlando – with the promise of sun for the afternoon – and Sean said they could “hear it dying down” this morning.
Universal and Disney have even tentatively told ticket-holders their theme parks could re-open on Friday, depending on any damage.
With the Mackenzie family on holiday for another 12 days, Sean said they were hopeful of getting their holiday back on track soon.
But with at least four people dead, and with three million people without power, Sean admitted they were one of the lucky ones.
“I felt overwhelmed yesterday, because I felt responsible for taking us here,” he said.
“I was thinking, ‘what do we do?’ “Hayley said, ‘this is like living in the Twisters movie’.
“We were here ten years ago, just me and Hayley, and we experienced the torrential rain showers you get.
“This has been a totally different experience.”
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