As officials make their final plea to residents to evacuate parts of Florida before Hurricane Milton arrives, some Floridians are choosing to stay put. One of them is Stephanie Livermore, 41, who lives in a “high and dry” seventh-floor apartment in central St. Petersburg.

“Getting out of here is no joke,” Livermore told Yahoo News. “There wasn’t enough fuel, people ran out of gas on the highway. You don’t always know exactly how much impact an area will have, so you can move yourself even in the worst case.”

The area is not in a mandatory evacuation zone or a flood zone. It lies within the “cone of uncertainty” in Hurricane Milton’s expected path — meaning the city may not experience a direct hit, despite being part of the Tampa Bay area.

That’s part of the reason Livermore and her husband aren’t evacuating, she told Yahoo News. Some of the tenants who live on the floor of her building are neither.

Livermore has lived in Florida since 2008 and says she’s lived through tropical storms and hurricanes (she was out of town when Hurricane Helene hit two weeks ago) — but Livermore says they ultimately turn out “not that bad” for her. The couple considered evacuating early on, but ultimately decided against it because “it made no sense to them.” Livermore, a veterinarian, also houses eight pets in her apartment, some of which belong to friends who did evacuate.

‘Could I have left? Sure,” she said. “Logistically, it’s difficult. The longer you wait, it becomes more and more challenging to actually go. But for me, I don’t feel like I’m in a situation where it would be terribly risky for me to drive here.”

Livermore’s husband works in the restaurant industry, so they were able to easily obtain food supplies that would last them several days. The couple stocked up on bottled water and pet food. Paper products sold out very quickly in their region, so Livermore is somewhat concerned about that.

“There’s really nothing you can do other than try to keep yourself safe,” she said. “You just have to take it minute by minute and weather the storm and then deal with the aftermath appropriately and just help each other.”