Former Long Islanders are hunkering down at their new homes in Florida as Hurricane Milton made landfall Wednesday evening.

Heidi and Chris Wilkins moved close to Tampa over two years ago from Massapequa. They say preparing for the storm was not easy.

"The stores were crazy, the shelves were pretty bare," Heidi said. "I went to the store Monday to get some additional items to prepare and the shelves were bare at that point."

Members of the Air National Guard from the 106th Rescue Wing in Westhampton Beach were there to help on the ground.

"They are there to unfortunately, wait for the devastation, destruction, loss of life unfortunately, and then to respond," said Deputy Commander Sean Garell.