‘We’re getting the heck out of here’ 416,000 in mandatory evacuation zone in Lee Co.

Around 416,000 residents in Lee County are under a mandatory evacuation order that went into effect Monday at noon because of Hurricane Milton.

The area includes neighbors living in Zones A and B, including Fort Myers Shores.

Public Safety Director Benjamin Abes said Monday afternoon ” zones A and B need to move to safe place by Tuesday evening. If changes happen with the track, more evacuations may be mandatory Monday night and into Tuesday morning,” Abes said.

That’s all neighbors living on River Road, like Sheridan Chester and Frances Whaley, needed to hear to find other accommodations for where they plan on weathering out the storm.

“We’re just going to kind of just lift everything up off the floor and put it on tables and stuff and get the heck out of here. We’re trying to pack up the house as much as possible and then leave,” Chester said.

Neighbors in evacuation zones A and B for Hurricane Milton are not wasting any time. They’re not waiting until Tuesday evening to get out. They’re getting out now.

“I’m going to a local church. I just went down and talked to the pastor. During Ian, there was two feet of water in the house, and I evacuated for that storm, and the same thing happened to our house. I don’t want to be in the house when that comes in,” Whaley said.

Sheriff Carmine Marceno said the sheriff’s office has already deployed resources across the area.

“ATVs, the shallow water boats, the high-water rescue vehicles, everything is already deployed,” Sheriff Marceno said.

Some neighbors like Mauro Pizano said they’ll brace out the storm in their house; they said they only lost power during Ian. So, even though they’re in a mandatory evacuation zone, they feel safe.

“We already passed a couple hurricanes. Nothing happened to our house, we only we lost power couple days. So, we’ll see what happens,” Pizano said.

The county is doing things to help neighbors who choose to evacuate.

They’ve opened 3 shelters, Island Coast High School in Cape Coral, Dunbar High School in Fort Myers, and Estero Recreation Center in Estero. Lee Tran is waiving all fees to get to the shelters. You can go to any stop and ask to be dropped off at the shelter.

The county’s special needs shelter is also open, but you have to register, and registration closes once we’re in the 5-day forecast.