Families running from Hurricane Milton arrive in Cumberland County worried about their Florida homes

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (WTVD) -- Some families evacuating Florida because of Hurricane Milton are passing through Cumberland County along I-95.

The impact of Hurricane Milton can already be seen in the Fayetteville area, as the manager of several hotels by I-95 report bookings are up as much as 40 percent higher than this time last year with people evacuating Florida. Some families ABC11 spoke with at the rest area nearby said they've been on the road battling traffic since Tuesday.

Some evacuating from Florida said their communities were already still recuperating from 2022's Hurricane Ian, so the back-to-back storms (Helene and now Milton) have really taken a toll.

"We just kind of have never really been hit that bad before and Helene was very...it shook us," Juleen Anderson said.

Anderson and her two kids are taking refuge at her boyfriend's home in Raleigh, so she's happy to have safe place to stay. But she worries about the impact this is having on her children.

"It's scary," Anderson said. "It's scary. Climate change is real and you know, growing up in that area I don't remember there being as many hurricanes and now my kids, they have hurricane days and it's like a whole thing."

Paul Wierdorn is also evacuating from Florida. He said his area was also still already reeling from Hurricane Helene.

"People's houses got a foot or two of water so they put all their furniture and all their stuff, all their wet stuff and dumped it out in front of their house and most of that is still there. So when this thing come through, it's going to be a very bad mess," he said.

Another mom, Kathleen Wimmer, said she just came back from visiting her daughter who recently bought a house in Florida. Wimmer said she's worried about how this storm could damage the new home.

"Our daughter had bought two generators, so I thought that they're doing as best as they can. I think they'll weather it out but it's pretty scary, it really is," she said.

Anderson said with so many natural disasters in her area--particularly Hurricane Helene and now Milton--she feels people in Florida and western North Carolina are connected in their grief.

"I cry when I think about it. Those people had no idea what was coming to them and it's--there's going to be a lot of repairing that needs to be done in the South, a lot of collective trauma here."