Homeowner cleans up damage from Hurricane Milton in Siesta Key – NBC 6 South Florida

A Siesta Key homeowner says the entire first floor of his home was destroyed by Milton, which made landfall there as a Category 3 hurricane – and yet he considers himself one of the lucky ones.

Gov. Ron DeSantis gave an overview of the Hurricane Milton cleanup Saturday morning, announcing that power had been restored to 2.4 million homes. About 1.6 million remain in the dark.

Gas was difficult to come by in parts of the state. Florida Highway Patrol troopers are assisting gas tankers as they make their way to the Tampa Bay area.

On Palm Island, NBC6 spoke with Jim Muszynski, who came to Florida from Chicago in 2019 to escape the cold.

But his house, an architectural gem, has already been hit by the elements twice in just a few weeks.

Debris from Hurricane Helene is still lying around his neighborhood. Milton was expected to be worse, with an expected rise of 15 feet, which was more like 8 to 10 feet.

“Because we were the eye of the storm, the water pushed into the Gulf instead of pushing in, that saved us,” Muszynski said.

But there is still significant damage to his house.

“The entire first level is destroyed,” he said.

At the beginning of the reconstruction, walls were cut out and furniture was thrown away.

Muszynski considers himself lucky because his house has three floors. He says many of his neighbors have old-fashioned, Florida ranch-style homes that only have a single story.

“All the one-story ranch houses are gone,” he said.