Milton has killed at least 16 people and left millions without power.
With winds up to 200kmh, Florida had already been battered by Hurricane Helene, as many as 2 million people had been ordered to evacuate ahead of Milton’s arrival, and millions more were in the storm's path.
Speaking to the Otago Daily Times from their neighbourhood in Tampa, Kelsey Roemhildt said she and husband Daniel spent the day after the hurricane hit coming to terms with the damage it caused.
They were helping out where they could and took the time to enjoy a neighbour’s barbecue.
"All the freezers were about to go off because it's been nearly 24 hours without power, so he's cooking up all the sausages and all his meat patties.
"I mean, it's unfortunate, but it's really nice that we have a good neighbourhood that's all banding together to help out."
Mrs Roemhildt grew up in Invercargill and Gore. She and Daniel live 20 minutes out of Tampa City and lost power to their home about 7pm local time on Wednesday.
Speaking yesterday at 3pm local time, Mrs Roemhildt’s cellphone was near dead and they were unable to leave the neighbourhood.
"There’s been a lot of damage done ... Like I say, I can't imagine what it would be like for those that actually were in the cone.
"We have a lot of elderly people and a lot of widows in the area.
"So we've been going around helping cut up trees and rake up debris and everything for those that don't have the help that they need."
Without service for much of the time, she had been unable to view the impact of the hurricane across Florida.
Their home managed to survive virtually unscathed, she said.
"The neighbours’ big oak tree fell on their house and it's destroyed our fence."
They spent last night cooped up in their bedroom closet to avoid the weather.
"It was hard to sleep with all the wind and everything.
"It was so loud. But I'm glad that we took the precautions that we needed to and that we felt comfortable that we were safe."
The next step would be the cleanup, she said.
"Hopefully we'll get our power restored within the next couple of days.
"I'm not really sure how long that will take. That's all that we can really hope is to get cleaned up and hopefully get our power back."
