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Central Georgia rolls out the welcome mat for Hurricane Milton evacuees

Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida on Wednesday night, and many Florida residents headed to Central Georgia for shelter.

MACON, Ga. — Mary Katherine Stewart says she decided to give out free coffee after seeing her shops struggling in Brandon and Orange Beach, Florida. 

They wanted to give Florida evacuees a place to come and breathe as they tried to escape Hurricane Milton.

"We just wanted to offer somebody 'a pick me up' in a stressful time. We didn't take the discount route because we didn't really want to add any more complications to an already complicated situation," she said. 

Stewart says some people came in, but not as many as they thought. She hopes to have more people come and drink coffee tomorrow. 

"We have seen a couple of people from Florida come in this morning, but not as many as we were expecting. I think downtown our Cotton Avenue location, we've seen a little bit more there," she says. 

Meanwhile, Macon's Fresh Air Barbeque is giving a 15 percent discount if they show their Florida license.  

"It's just a good thing to do for one, but, you know, a couple of weeks ago, we were faced with the, with the same issue and very well could be the shoes of these people coming through here now," he says. 

Carol and Paul Diodati. are from Florida and say they stayed in Macon. They say they are driving to Cordele tonight. 

"We have to check out at the Airbnb, and we decided to get as close to Florida as possible without running into the hurricane, but we're going an hour and 15 minutes," she says. 

Other places helping out are pharmacies in Warner Robins. Robins Pharmacy is writing prescriptions for anyone who needs them. They say they must not be for ADHD or painkillers. They will fill diabetic medicine and heart and other things.

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