Winter Springs residents come together at sandbag site ahead of Hurricane Milton 

Winter Springs residents lined up early Tuesday morning to stock up on sandbags at the city’s self-serve station in Central Winds Park in the face of Hurricane Milton. 

A line of cars formed down Orange Avenue entering Central Winds Park before daybreak on Tuesday morning, as Winter Springs residents each waited for their turn at the city’s self service sandbag station in the face of Hurricane Milton. 

As of noon on Wednesday, the Category 5 storm is expected to make landfall just south of Tampa Bay late Wednesday night or early Thursday and to trek across the state as a Category 2 hurricane. The powerful storm is hitting in the wake of Hurricane Helene’s destruction just two weeks ago. 

Winter Springs resident Nathan Robinson was the first in line that morning, and said he’d arrived at the park by 6:40 a.m. before entry was allowed around an hour later. 

“It was supposed to start at eight, but they opened the gates early because there was a big line back there,” Robinson said. 

Seminole County Emergency Manager Alan Harris said that the county gave out more than 200,000 sandbags as of Tuesday, which is the most sandbags the county has given out in more than a decade. 

“This event is unprecedented. It is not like Hurricane Irma. It is not like Hurricane Ian. It’s not even like Hurricane Charley,” Harris said during a briefing on Tuesday. “This is going to be a very strong hurricane but the hurricane is going to last for a while so we need to be prepared for that.” 

Winter Springs residents Michael and Brittany Osero continued filling sandbags as they spoke to OCN, preparing to protect their home before what Michael describes as “game time tomorrow.”

Robinson, truck bed now filled with multiple white sandbags tied off with nylon, said concern over reports about flooding in the city brought him there that day. 

“The neighborhood behind us last time got flooded real bad,” Robinson said. “But I know there were issues with the city not taking care of the drainage areas, so I’m hoping that they learned from that and fixed it.”

Winter Springs has seen a barrage of resident concerns over flooding, with the city’s latest stormwater briefing highlighting watershed issues prior to Hurricane Helene’s landfall on Sept. 26. 

Hurricane Ian also brought flooding and damages to roads, businesses and homes in the Winter Springs area in late September of 2022 with a reported 1-in-1,000 year rainfall according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Robinson said though the pile of sand residents had been digging from had significantly gone down since that morning, there seemed to be a sense of community amongst those present. 

“It’s come down pretty quickly,” Robinson said, referring to the sand pile. “But everybody’s had a pretty positive attitude, a lot of people helping each other out. I know I stayed to help people and there’s a couple that I overheard that they actually evacuated from Tampa, they came in shortly after I did and they’re still helping people as well.”

Winter Springs did not announce if the operations would be extended again, with the city’s website stating the sandbag operations are still currently closed. 

Winter Springs resident Scott Gomrad said he’d been there helping to fill and load sandbags for others that morning since 8 a.m., speaking as he continued to dig and fill the bag of another resident who said Gomad had been the coach of her son. 

Gomad, who’s also the athletic director of Winter Springs High School, said one of the wrestling teams from the school had also come to help with him the day before. Wednesday, he said, he’d be helping to set up a hurricane shelter at the school. 

Winter Springs High School is one of eight designated storm shelters in Seminole County. For a complete list of shelters, visit the Seminole County website here. 

“This community, two years ago, we had really bad flooding in Winter Springs,” Gomrad said, referring to the aftermath of Hurricane Ian. “A couple of our teachers, one of our coaches, one of our gate workers for our athletic department all got real bad flooding. So it’s something that really hit home for us. And with the big storm coming we’re just really hoping we get as many people loaded up with sandbags and keep them as safe as possible.”

Winter Springs resident Morgan Allstot said he’d experienced flooding issues in the past and lived just a few minutes away from the park, saying he’d previously had to buy his own sandbags to protect his home during a storm. 

Though he had his concerns over flooding, he said it was still nice to have the sandbag operations available as well as the help of other residents. 

“There’s been people giving help, so that’s been nice,” Allstot said. “I had help, which was good … this is the first time I’ve been involved in getting ready for the storm.”

While concerns over flooding and storm impacts in Winter Springs still persist, many residents like Gomad are taking comfort in the collective support of the city and its inhabitants. 

“It’s really neat to see a lot of people help each other, and come together as a community,” Gomad said. “Really good to see all the positive energy out here.”

To read OCN’S Local Disaster Resource Guide, click here.