Gulfport couple who rode out Hurricane Debby on houseboat evacuates ahead of Milton: ‘This thing petrifies me’

Gulfport boat owners brace for Milton

Jennifer Kveglis reports

GULFPORT, Fla. - As Hurricane Milton inches closer to the Bay Area, Gulfport boat owners made last-minute preparations Tuesday afternoon.

In August, FOX 13 shared Kaylee Walker's story following Hurricane Debby. The sailboat she called home was pushed into a seawall outside the rec center. All the while she and her partner were on board.

Walker has since moved into a new sailboat that's been docked at the Gulfport Municipal Marina. Ahead of Milton, the trauma from Debby has begun to resurface.

She said, "What happened with Debby was enough to make me….I mean this thing petrifies me. I can’t eat. I can’t sleep. I can’t think right."

She and her partner made the call to take personal belongings out of their sailboat and move them into their car.

READ: How to safely use a generator during Hurricane Milton

"We took our generator off, our wallets, food, water, everything that’s important we took off our boat," Walker shared.

The couple spent Tuesday afternoon securing their vessel to the boat slip at the marina.

"Thinking about people riding out the storm on their boats…I mean it’s really dark to say, but I think they should be writing their social security on their bodies," Walker said.
Walker and her partner plan to stay at a hotel in Lealman.

READ: Life-saving satellite tech likely in your pocket to use for emergency calling when disaster strikes

Meanwhile, Patricia Garrison, her 96-year-old mother, and dogs evacuated to the Gibbs High School shelter.

"It’s probably going to be a long couple of days, so I was just taking my mom out and my tenant over there to stretch their legs," she said.

Garrison has faith that the Gulfport community will get through Hurricane Milton through banding together.

"This is the most fantastic town," Garrison said. "Everybody has come together. I needed some plywood, the plywood got there, a neighbor was walking around, and I said my mom may have to sleep on the floor of the gymnasium. I don’t have a cot. It’s too late to buy one. He brought a cot over."

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