IRISH PEOPLE ARE among those affected by the devastation of Hurricane Milton in Florida. 

Aisling Kane and her husband George Coghlan, originally from Dublin and Mullingar respectively, moved from Galway to the US state with their son Ríán in 2006.

Speaking to The Journal from their home in Florida this morning, Aisling said last night was the “longest night of my life”.

“The wind sounded like 100 banshees screaming,” she said, adding that the ordeal had been “terrifying”.

Milton left a trail of destruction as it crashed into the Florida coast overnight with high winds sparking tornadoes and flash floods across a state still reeling from another massive storm, Helene, two weeks ago.

It’s understood that a number of people have died, but the exact number is not yet clear. 

Extreme winds of up to 165 kilometers per hour were recorded on Wednesday night, according to the National Hurricane Center.

At least 2.8 million households and businesses are without power.

‘We sealed ourselves into the house’

Many people, including Irish-Americans, chose to leave Florida for nearby states earlier this week. 

Aisling and her family live in a town called Celebration, very close to Disney World, and decided not to evacuate as other areas were expected to be worse affected by the storm.

Aisling, George and their son Ríán pictured at Disney World in September Aisling Kane Aisling Kane

The brunt of the storm has passed over by now, but they don’t yet know the extent of the damage.

Aisling said – as they have boarded up the doors and windows – they can’t see exactly what has happened outside.

A tree fell outside the family's home during high winds yesterday Aisling Kane Aisling Kane

“We stayed in our home as we have a stronger block Mediterranean home,” she explained.

We sealed ourselves into the house so we can’t even look at the back or front of the house yet.

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Some houses in the areas are made of timber and were less likely to survive the impact of the storm.

As the family have lived in Florida for 18 years, Aisling said they are “used to strong winds”, but have not experienced anything like Milton before.

We have been through a couple of hurricanes but nothing like this.

She said the wind speeds overnight were comparable to Hurricane Charley, which hit Florida in 2004, but Milton was worse.

‘Survival kit’ from Ireland

As the family were boarding up their home in recent days, Aisling said her mother Maureen sent over “a hurricane survival box” complete with packets of Tayto, bread, tea bags and a Child of Prague statue.

The 'hurricane survival box' sent over by Aisling's mother, Kathleen Aisling Kane Aisling Kane

“She has been lighting candles all day long as well, she’s a typical Irish mammy.”