Florida Mom of 6 in Tears as Hurricane Milton Approaches

• A Florida mom of six, who goes by the username @mamamossof6, explains on TikTok how she and her family are preparing for Hurricane Milton
• She says that despite previous comments telling her to leave Florida, she feels stuck
• On a good day, it would take the family 10 hours to drive south to get out of the state, and with standstill traffic, and gas stations all throughout the state already down from Hurricane Helene, they risk getting trapped

A Florida mom is opening up on TikTok after responding to comments about how her family is preparing for Hurricane Milton, which has strengthened to a major Category 5 storm.

In the video, the mom of six, who goes by the username @mamamossof6, explains that despite previous comments telling her to leave Florida, she and her family feel stuck. She mentions that “on a good day,” it would take them 10 hours to drive out of the state.

“There has been hours of standstill traffic, and gas stations all throughout the state are already running out because people from Helene came down,” she says responding to a comment. “Y’all forget we just had a hurricane, Hurricane Helene, so people up north are making their way down. People in Tampa are making their way either further north or down south. I’m already down south, so I’m as far west as we can go.”

“You all came at me in my comments and said, ‘There’s no choice in the matter; just do it,’ ” she adds of comments urging her to evacuate. “With [Hurricane] Ian, so many of my friends got stuck on the highway because they ran out of gas. There were no places for them to stay, so everyone just saying, ‘Go get in your car and figure it out after you go’ — that’s not an option.”

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The mom goes on to say that despite everything, her family is as prepared as they can be. They have a generator, gas and hurricane-proof windows. “We have what we can,” she says. “The only thing we can’t control is the storm surge.” She adds that because they are in Zone A, along the water and typically the first zone considered for evacuation, they will try to find a place inland if they do need to leave.

The user also mentions that many strangers have offered their homes for her family to stay in. While she appreciates the offers, she doesn’t want her family to stay in a stranger’s house, which she considers a “life or death” situation. People have also reached out asking to Venmo or CashApp money, which the mom believes isn’t the focus of this situation.

“People were like, ‘Why didn’t you prepare better?’ ” she adds. “There’s no preparing. We literally prepare week to week to feed our kids; you can’t just prepare for a hurricane. Like I said, we do what we can to prepare, making sure we’ve got gas, a generator, and things for when the power goes out.”

She continues, “What people also don’t realize is that people who evacuated from [Hurricane] Ian took two full weeks to get back into town because gas stations were running out. You couldn’t make your way back in. So I don’t know where I’m supposed to go?”

She also adds that some comments have suggested she try to go to Kentucky or Tennessee, but she says she probably wouldn’t be able to make it out of the state without getting stuck on the highway with no gas or needing to camp out at a rest stop.

“Like I said, we’re going to hunker down here because we know our house, we know our hurricane-proof windows, and we know our neighborhood,” she says. “And our car is full in case we have to get in it and go. But I’m preparing as best as I can, so I need you to get out of my comments with the negativity unless you’re here to help, and I don’t mean financially. Unless you guys are sending us on a week-long vacation and giving us 10 grand, I don’t see how that’s going to help us.”

“I’m not going to take people’s money and then get stuck out of state somewhere and can’t afford to make it back,” she continues. “There are so many people far worse off than we are. None of those videos were meant to sound like a sob story.”

Since posting the video early Monday morning, she’s already garnered more than 1,500 comments.

“Unless people are in your exact situation, they need to keep silent!!! Praying for you and your family!!!” one person writes.

“People don’t understand there are only 2 major interstates that go in and out of FL. It’s not that easy.” another user comments.

“I followed you so I can stay updated on your posts. I’m in Ft. Myers and I’m staying too. No where to go. Good luck to you and your family,” someone else says.