MOBILE, Ala. (WPMI) — Trees bending, some snapping buildings groaning in the intense wind while electric transformer popped in big blue bolt of light.
This is the power of a Category 3 storm a full six miles inland from the coast of Tampa-St. Pete.
Just hours later, Hurricane Milton was gone.
In its wake, down trees, flooded communities, no power and no gasoline.
68-year-old Jorge Gonzalez tells NBC 15 News that this, unfortunately, feels all to familiar.
“It got floating before but not that bad.”
Rising water from the storm’s torrential downpours flooded the small outdoor food court where Jorge sells food inspired by his native home of Puerto Rico.
The yellow trailer half submerged by stormwater, is his livelihood.
He knows the drill, and it won’t be easy.
“It’s gonna be hard to clean and to get nice to go inside,” he says, “because we got to drain a lot of water.”
Fearing the worst, Jorge had moved his RV, where he lives, to a storage facility to protect it from the storm.
But for others, especially those living along the beach in communities south of Tampa, they couldn’t take their homes with them.
And after being battered less than two weeks earlier by Hurricane Helene, some says they’ve had enough.
So… where might they go?
Bryan Olson of Mobile thinks he has an idea.
“I will add, too, that I’m showing some buyers some houses this week that were here during Milton. They were at an air B&B and have decided to relocate here, so welcome to Mobile.”
Olson is a realtor for Roberts Brothers here in Mobile. He says he noticed an uptick of Florida residents who wanted to know more about Mobile properties even before Milton and Helene. And he says hurricanes are only part of the equation.
“It’s the storms,” he says, “but I also think it’s insurance, not being able to properly insure their investments, rising costs, property values, taxes. I think it’s all of those things combined, but it’s definitely impacting and bringing people here.”
Olson quotes a recent Wall Street Journal article that puts Florida residents just behind Georgia in those making a move to Alabama.
“I’ve had some clients complain over the past year that in Florida, they weren’t able to get their kids in schools because they were over crowded… also rising property taxes, extremely high property taxes.”
Those property tax rates are often cited as a tradeoff for not having a state income tax.
But with costs of repairs soaring, along with insurance rates skyrocketing, Olson says some are looking to the Alabama coast as a new, more affordable alternative.
As for Jorge, well, when the water goes down, he’ll back his RV into its regular spot, clean up his food trailer, and start all over.
Again.
What keeps Jorge going?
“I need to survive, man. And I like to work. I’m 68. But I want to keep working until the end.”
Until the end?
This is not the end for Jorge?
“Oh, no way,” he says, walking back to his truck. “No way.”
