Chicago crews head to Florida to help with Milton recovery as residents assess damage

CHICAGO (WLS) -- After Hurricane Milton cut a destructive path through Florida, residents are assessing the damage and crews from Chicago are on their way to help with recovery.

"It was scary actually, it sounded like a freight train coming through," Naperville native Jennifer Sullivan said.

Sullivan works for a hospital system in west-central Florida and had to stay in place as Hurricane Milton headed her way.

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"Three of our hospitals are the only ERs open right now I think in Pinellas County in the Clearwater area," Sullivan said. "So there are a lot of hospitals that are closed and evacuated. One local hospital actually had to evacuate their patients in the middle of the night, critically ill patients, and we were one of the accepting hospitals. So it's been pretty dicey here."

Hurricane Milton live updates: Storm passes into Atlantic as Category 1 after slamming Florida

She said they're bracing for a surge of patients, as one of the only open ER units nearby.

"I am afraid for the loss of life and I'm pretty concerned about making sure we're going to meet the needs of our community from a healthcare perspective," Sullivan said.

Just north of Orlando, Gabe Mitchell said his home escaped the full wrath of Milton.

"We could hear the wind blowing. The fence out back was getting hit with objects," he said. "It wasn't as bad here, but our streets flooded. We have a lot of rain, and cleanup to do."

Mithcell said while there were plenty of trees down, he never lost power and has no significant damage.

Robb and Lynnea Tausend from South Barrington hunkered down at their house they bought this summer in Venice, Florida.

"You could hear the wind howling," Robb said. "It was very powerful.

"It was scary you know," Lynnea said.

Speaking from Venice Beach because the power's out at their home, they said the damage isn't as bad as they expected, and glad they seemingly weren't hard hit.

"Venice is OK," Lynnea said. "There's a lot of debris, a lot of trees down. We did not really flood out; that was from Helene. Venice is OK. We just have no power no Wi-Fi and a lot a lot a lot of trees down."

Local crews and volunteers from Illinois left for Florida today to support Milton relief efforts.

Governor JB Pritzker says members of Illinois' Emergency Management Team are also ready to deploy for clean up as soon as they're needed.

MABAS Illinois crews were getting ready to leave overnight. The fleet gathered near I-57 at the Wilmington and Peotone exits before heading south.

The team debriefed before 25 crew members and vehicles dispersed.

ComEd also sent 60 underground employees to help repair damage and restore service down south.

Two MABAS-Illinois Swiftwater Rescue Teams that had been sent to North Carolina to help with the search and rescue efforts after Hurricane Helene returned home Thursday.

"We were kind of go, go, go and new challenges every day," said Cody Riggin, water rescue communication specialist. "Seeing that level of destruction every day, it's very interesting coming back to this area."

The group of 24 were dispatched as part of the mutual aid system, and spent 14 days in some of the hardest hit areas. While there, the team saved dozens of residents, including families trapped on the roof of a two-story townhome.

"We rescued quite a few people while the water was literally rising in front of us at about a foot per second, and also there were a lot of people that were cut off, so we were able to relay information and get them supplies," said Ken Schulman, team lead.