Chicagoans in Florida brace for hurricane

Joseph Giuliano was a Chicagoland resident for decades. He lived in DeKalb from 2005 until last year, when he moved to Elgin where the beauty salon he owned and operated for more than 40 years was located.

But after he retired, Florida’s warmer weather and lower taxes appealed to him. So he decided to move to Homosassa, a town just over 70 miles north of Tampa.

Little did Giuliano know his move-in would be during a hurricane.

Hurricane Milton, one of the most intense storms seen in the Atlantic Ocean, is set to make landfall in Florida Wednesday night. The storm was a Category 3 storm as of late Wednesday afternoon, downgraded from its previous classifications but still expected to lead to major flooding up and down the Florida’s Gulf Coast.

Giuliano, 59, said he had planned to move this week as early as a month-and-a-half ago.

Even when he began his drive from Illinois last Saturday, arriving the next day, he said he didn't reconsider his timeline. “I was completely set on this date,” he said. “It had to happen this weekend, and that was it.”

His wife is there, too. She arrived two days before him, and so did two of his friends who promised to help him move.

Jim Reuter, a 61-year-old Elgin resident, is one of those friends. He said he felt compelled to help a good friend, and as a retiree, a road trip to Florida didn’t sound too bad either.

Reuter said he was surprised as the trip grew closer to hear about Milton. “We never really paid attention to the weather too much, and so as we were heading down, everybody was saying, ‘Milton’s coming, Milton’s coming,’ and I’m like, ‘I don’t even know what that is,’” he said.

It may have been Midwest naivety, thanks to a lack of experience with hurricanes, but Reuter said he never reconsidered making the trip. He feels like he owes it to Giuliano as a friend to make sure he and his wife are safe.

Bettina Collins moved to Kissimmee in Central Florida near Orlando in December 2023. Now, she’s experiencing her second hurricane, after she felt light effects from Hurricane Helene just a few weeks ago. Milton, though, is expected to hit the area harder.

Collins, 60, said she has been preparing, including buying sandbags to protect the entrances to their house.

“A lot of preparation, things we’re not used to doing. In a snowstorm, you can still leave your house. We are now under a mandatory curfew,” Collins said.

She said she’s feeling pretty calm, especially as the storm is expected to weaken significantly by the time it hits her area, which is more inland. She added a nearby retention pond makes her feel confident she won’t be a victim to any major flooding.

Collins is riding out the storm with her husband and two sons who got stuck after a flight was canceled.

Giuliano and Reuter said they’re both monitoring the storm and a little nervous, but they’re hopeful they won’t get hit too bad since they’re not in a flood zone and forecasts have shown the storm moving further south.

When Giuliano spoke with the Sun-Times Wednesday afternoon, he said they were outside grilling food, even as gusts grew stronger. That may be because of their Midwest blood, Giuliano said.

“We’re from Illinois,” he said. “We’re storm watchers. So that’s why we’re sitting outside right now.”