'It Was Wild': Oklahomans Brave Hurricane Milton In Florida

Many Oklahomans are still sharing their stories of riding out Hurricane Milton in Florida.

Some of them are there working, and others just happened to be in the state for a vacation gone wrong.

The hurricane was scary for many, but the tornadoes were just as devastating.

Many Oklahomans are on the ground, working to get power back to millions.

“I was back home, got the call to go to Florida a week before Helene hit," said Michael Abernathy from Bixby.

He is a foreman with Osmos Utility services. He's working 16-hour days to help restore power to millions on the East coast.

"There were reports of over 100 tornadoes that touched down, it reminded me of springtime in Oklahoma," he said. "It was wild.”

Michael said trees are down everywhere and he’s part of finding out what is causing outages and getting the right people there. His crew even got stuck in a tornado.

“We got caught in a tornado that hit St. Lucie in Fort Pierce, it did some damage to my truck.”

He said he’ll be there helping, as long as it takes.

"Being from Oklahoma, coming across the nation to help out, it means a lot," he said.

"Sunday Milton starting popping up in the gulf," said Erin Claiborne. "We knew it was headed our way.”

Erin Claiborne is from Bartlesville and was in Daytona Beach for a girl's trip. They had no choice but to stay and hope for the best since the airports closed.

“We got plenty of water, food, snacks, ready to hunker down," said Erin. "They did not evacuate our hotel.”

It was a scary night with howling winds, and despite the nearby damage, she was thankful it wasn’t worse.

“We were prepared though, we watch Travis Meyer, so we were ready for tornadoes," she said.

Erin and her friends are heading back to Oklahoma on Saturday.

At least 15 people have died from Milton, and millions are still without power as of Friday.