ATLANTA - Thanks to reconnaissance by a neighbor who stayed behind, Pam Szymanksi knows Hurricane Irma blew out the living room window of her southwest Florida home, but she isn't sure when she'll get to see the damage for herself.
"All I know is we have to check out of here tomorrow, because they're booked," she said Monday, sitting in the lobby of a downtown Atlanta hotel where she arrived with her mother, two children and two dogs. A hotel reservation in Valdosta, Ga., is next, Szymanksi said, but that's still 350 miles from their home in Fort Myers.
"I don't want to run into closed roads," she said, "but I want to get home and start cleaning up."
Szymanski's family helped make up one of the largest storm evacuation efforts in U.S. history, after Florida Gov. Rick Scott urged more than 6.5 million residents, one out of four of his constituents, to leave.
Now, with Irma advancing inland, a potential reverse migration from across the Southeast raises new worries of jammed roadways amid uncertain gasoline supplies, empty grocery store shelves, standing water and widespread power outages that in heavily damaged areas could last for weeks.
Pam Szymanski of Fort Myers, Fla. and her 8-year-old son Charlie Dutill watch weather radar on Monday, Sept. 11, 2017, as the remnants of Irma move toward metro Atlanta, where their family evacuated to a downtown hotel. Szymanski said her Florida home suffered some wind damage, but she doesn't know how much and isn't sure when she will be able to return. (AP Photo/Bill Barrow)
Hurricane Irma stories
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- Trump picks Naples for post-Irma Florida visit
- Eight die at Florida nursing home in Irma's sweltering aftermath
- Irma's life and demise: 2 weeks of destruction and fear
- Powerful Irma slams Chattanooga area; region escapes much of expected damage [photos]
- EPB continues effort to restore electricity to area customers after storm [photos]
- Irma spawns unusual storm surges on both Florida coasts [photos]
- Governor: 'Work to do' for Florida to recover after Irma
- Back-to-back storms in Georgia mean doing repairs all over again
- As Irma evacuees head back south, cleanup is on their minds
- Stevie Wonder opens hurricane relief benefit with 'Lean on Me'
- What's happening: Irma's trail: death, floods and misery
- Couple's home an island after Irma: 'We lost everything'
- Harvey and Irma to slow U.S. economy but rebound should follow
- FEMA estimates 25 percent of Florida Keys homes are gone
- What's happening: Irma's trail: death, floods and misery
- Trump to visit Florida on Thursday
- Irma causes fourth South Carolina death
- 'Wagon Wheel' points Irma evacuees to Tennessee city
- Generator leads to Irma's third South Carolina death
- Irma kills 2 in Georgia and 2 in South Carolina
- 12 Chattanooga-area lineworkers headed to Irma-ravaged Florida and Georgia
- Aquarium hosts animals evacuated from Georgia [video]
- Cuba's decrepit buildings no match for Hurricane Irma [photos, interactive tracker]
- Refugees, triathletes find shelter in Chattanooga as Irma rolls through Southeast
- Irma whips Southeast: 3 dead in Georgia, 1 in South Carolina [photos, interactive tracker]
- Atlanta airport cancels 800 flights Monday due to Irma
- UPDATE: TEMA status raised to Level 3- State of Emergency as Irma moves through Tennessee
- Nearly two dozen flights canceled at Chattanooga Airport
- UPDATE: Many schools in Chattanooga region closed or on 2-hour delay today
- Weakened Irma lashes Tampa Bay region; full impact unknown [photos, interactive tracker]
- Two stranded manatees helped after Irma sucks water from bay
- Remnants of Hurricane Irma bringing wind, rain to Chattanooga area [interactive tracker]
- What Chattanoogans can do to prepare for Irma's potential impact [interactive tracker]
- UPDATE: Hurricane Irma gives Florida a coast-to-coast pummeling [photos, interactive tracker]
- 2 manatees stranded as Irma sucks water from Sarasota Bay
- Red Cross and partners open shelters in Chattanooga, three other Tennessee cities for Irma evacuees
- Georgia schools, businesses close after Gov. Deal declares state of emergency
- Irma prompts first ever tropical storm warning for Atlanta
- Hurricane Irma knocks Miami Marlins' radio broadcast off air
- Haslam orders health aid for Irma victims
- How Hurricane Irma became the second-strongest Atlantic hurricane on record; a question and answer
- They've been warned: Some insist on riding out Irma at home
- This is your last chance': Irma puts a bull's-eye on Tampa
- Is Hurricane Irma the 'Big One' Florida has dreaded?
- Rush Limbaugh evacuates studio ahead of Hurricane Irma
- Florida evacuees crowd highways in Atlanta
- Irma gains strength, targets Florida after raking Caribbean
- Beyond Florida, Irma an unpredictable threat to Southeast
- Hurricane Irma likely to be far worse than monster Andrew
Stephanie Clegg Troxell rounds up Tank, her 2-year-old pot bellied pig, at the acreage where her family's animals are being kept Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2017, in Bradyville, Tenn. The family evacuated New Port Richey, Fla., before Hurricane Irma hit. The family caravan includes three cars and a trailer, five adults, five children, 13 dogs, three mini-horses and a pet pig. The trek from New Port Richey, Florida, north of Tampa Bay, took more than 17 hours, beginning last Wednesday. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
Scott cautioned evacuees not to rush back home.
"Storm impacts can continue well after the center passes," the governor said from his official Twitter account, asking residents to follow local officials' advice on when to return. He later retweeted FEMA's warning that Irma involves "disruptions to daily activities" long after it passes.
That's not necessarily a message Floridians want to hear, even as they contemplate reliving the daylong and overnight drives they endured just days ago.
Carin and David Atkins of Pinecrest, Fla., were waiting out Irma on Monday, planning to leave their Atlanta hotel Tuesday morning to head back down the Florida peninsula with their children, Molly and Thomas. The Atkinses said they have hotel reservations near Cape Canaveral, more than halfway back to their home outside Miami.
"I've called to confirm they have power," David Atkins said, adding that some businesses near their home have power as well.
Carin Atkins said they can live without power at home for several days, recalling that they went 47 days without power after Hurricane Wilma in 2005. They evacuated, she said, only because of the threat of rising water from a storm surge that didn't reach to their home.
Other evacuees still aren't as sure of their return.
Stephanie Clegg Troxell was near Nashville, where her family caravan includes three cars and a trailer, five adults, five children, 13 dogs, three mini-horses and a pet pig. The trek from New Port Richey, Fla., north of Tampa Bay, took more than 17 hours, beginning last Wednesday.
Troxell said her husband stayed behind and now is working with friends to remove a tree that fell on the roof of their house. They also had no power.
"We don't know when we're leaving and now there's another hurricane coming," Troxell said, referring to Jose, which was offshore. "I'm trying to sneak out when it's not 30 miles per hour-plus winds."
In Winston-Salem, N.C., Rea Argonza was worried about money as she mapped out her return plans.
"Staying here, it's been like a financial strain," said Argonza, who traveled with her husband and five children from St. Augustine, Fla., to two hotel rooms 500 miles away near the Wake Forest University campus. "We're up to almost a thousand dollars now. I do believe this whole expedition is going to be almost $3,000."
In some cramped quarters, there were parties.
Argonza celebrated her 32nd birthday in North Carolina. Troxell's daughter celebrated her 13th birthday Monday in Tennessee on a trip that's featured visits to the state fair, some nearby waterfalls and the Opryland complex.
But the joys of an unplanned excursion may not extend to 70-pound swine. Tank, the Troxell family pig, appeared homesick because he can't lounge by the pool like he does at home. "He's missing his tropical scenery," Troxell said.