MACON, Ga. — More people are evacuating to Macon for shelter from Hurricane Milton. On Sunday, the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency posted on Facebook about the places to evacuate in Georgia.
Paul Thibodeau, his wife Lisa, and their pet Cheeto Lips are from Dunedin, Florida.
They say they decided on Saturday to leave Sunday to avoid the hurricane and are planning to stay at Mercer Hilton Garden Inn.
"I think we might have to leave this time because, like I said, normally, you know, we stay," he says. But I said this time here, this one scares me a little bit, so I think we might have to leave."
He said the last hurricane was terrifying.
Thibodeau says they left around 1 p.m. on Sunday and made it to Macon around 9 p.m.
He says the damage was bad in Florida but, thankfully, did not affect his family.
"There's still a lot of damage down there. A lot of people got flooded out, and have all their furniture out on the street and everything. If there's a lot of flooding with all the rain in the storm surge, that's going to be even a bigger mess. I mean, I feel real bad for the people that are sticking around," he says.
He says getting out of Florida is the best choice for him.
"It's like everything there can be replaced, you know, we can't be replaced," he says.
Hotels are packing people in in the Macon area.
The 1842 Inn is busier than usual.
Charles Olson is the owner of the 1842 Inn.
He says he already has ten people booking from Florida.
He says they only have nineteen rooms.
"Right now, for Tuesday and Wednesday night, we're completely full. Thursday has some availability, and Friday has a little less availability," Olson says.
Olson says most folks staying with them from Florida are coming in tomorrow.
He says he wants them to feel at home.
"With Helene, it was interesting because we were in the initial path projections. We only had about three rooms the night of the hurricane. People were not looking to stay here, and now it is the exact opposite of that. In a sense, everything's kind of balanced out," he says.
Olson says all the hotels are working together to ensure evacuees have a safe place to stay away from hurricanes.