Irish family endures 'longest and scariest night' as Hurricane Milton batters US town

Tampa Bay, which is densely populated, appeared to have escaped the most devastating surge, but the storm ripped the roof off Tropicana Field, home of Major League Baseball's Tampa Bay Rays, and slammed a tower crane into a building in downtown St Petersburg.

Aisling Kane, her husband George Coghlan, and son Rían were “boarded into their house” during the pelting winds and rain that swept through their town.

“We had everything barricaded but we have high windows, and we were afraid if they smashed, our roof would be gone," Ms Kane said.

Ms Kane, who is originally from Dublin and a science professor in Florida, said she had prepared well for the storm and felt “lucky” because her home was secure and newly built.

For the first time since 2006, when she first moved to the US, she was given a curfew on Wednesday night and told to stay in from 6pm until 10am on Thursday.

Speaking in the aftermath of the storm, Ms Kane, who spent the day cleaning up outside, told the Irish Examiner: “We lost a couple of trees and my Victorian pergola, along with one bird of paradise plant.

“Plenty of trees are down on the roads as well. Thank God the house is ok, as we sealed ourselves in and it worked, with no water getting in at all.

The eye passed over the house and the winds stayed over us for around four hours solid. It was the longest and scariest night of my life. It did not stop until 7am our time.

Ms Kane sent the Irish Examiner photographs of the fallen trees and the traffic jam of motorists leaving Celebration following the storm and returning to Tampa.

“We were so lucky as people in the Gulf Coast lost their homes and some others lost their lives. It’s heart-breaking to see what happened," she said.

"Our home is dry and no damage — some of them head home from Orlando to a house under water.

“It makes you realise what is important. I never saw so many tornadoes happening in Florida before as we usually do not get them.

“The damage from them was unreal. Homes were taking off the ground.” 

Meanwhile Corkman Paul McCarthy told RedFM that he thought “this is it” on Wednesday night when Hurricane Milton hit Florida, where he has lived for a number of years.

“This was my fifth hurricane, and it was the worst for sure. We were asked to evacuate, and I was never asked to evacuate before from this building.” 

Mr McCarthy explained that he lived on the fifth floor of a condominium in a golf resort. The golf course was now “like a lake” and houses “beyond the fairway are like submarines right now, one house was destroyed — and I’m a mile and a half from the beaches".

The Ballincollig native estimated that between 60% and 70% of houses in the area have been destroyed. Some had already been damaged by Hurricane Helene two weeks ago.

“We were lucky that we didn't get a big surge yesterday because I went into Sarasota — that's where I'm living. I live in Pinellas County, west of Tampa, But it's like there's no beach. There are two beaches. Now there's no sand. That's all in Orlando. And then we get hit last night. So, it's a double whammy. 

"It's the first time everybody had to evacuate, and the island is gone, and the beaches are destroyed.” 

Mr McCarthy and some of his neighbours who also live on higher floors in the concrete building had decided to “stick it out". 

"But I tell you, it was the first time I was scared,” he said. He was hopeful that the worst had now passed. 

“It's still windy outside. It's still making noise and it's very eerie. There's no electricity anywhere, but we're surviving," he said. "It's like a war zone. It's very eerie and it's very sad.”