VALDOSTA, Ga. (WALB) - It’s down to the final hours before landfall on the coast of Florida many of those who evacuated, came to Georgia.

Florida tags are all across South Georgia — at the gas stations, hotels, RV and campsites.

WALB spoke to a mother who evacuated from Sarasota with her children on Sunday.

“That’s the hardest part, as a mother I’m trying to keep myself together,” Josie Mayclin, a Sarasota resident, said. “I’ve never been scared of a hurricane and then 1 o’clock in the morning Sunday, I just pictured — I had overnighted life jackets to my house just in case and I was picturing my kids underwater so I just drove straight here.”

Lots of Florida evacuees arrived in Valdosta where hotels are sold out for miles due to Hurricane Helene displacing residents. Currently, the Walmart parking lot is filled with cars, trucks, and campers as people wait out Milton.

“We have most of the family here,” Tamera Brummette, a Sarasota resident said. “I do have one daughter still down there I wish she would have left but she didn’t. We are trying to keep in good spirits and also it’s just stuff, it’s just things that can be replaced but you can’t replace your lives. So to have everyone here my grandchildren, my daughter, my husband, and my 87-year-old mother-in-law who is in the car, we are all here trying to stay safe. It’s a great feeling. I’m glad that we are all safe, hopefully, we will have a home to go back to.”

Brumette told WALB that she was able to get a hotel because Mayclin came to Valdosta early.

According to the Georgia Department of Transportation, Monday was the busiest night.

A few gas stations near exits have a limited supply of gas, but none have been completely sold out.

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