As officials encouraged western Florida residents to evacuate from Hurricane Milton’s path, several folks stuck around and posted about the storm online—for better or worse.

Magin’s Hurricane Milton updates racked up hundreds of thousands of views on TikTok. In one clip, Magin showed his building’s parking garage filling with water. In another, he showed city streets completely flooded. The 41-year-old said most of his neighbors had evacuated the building, and he was only aware of one other couple who stayed behind.

Joe Malinowski created a social media frenzy during Hurricane Milton when he refused to evacuate his sailboat home.

TikTok's algorithm leads us toward outrage-inducing stories. But its live videos of Hurricane Milton actually were useful — and could replace TV.

Millions waited for streams of updates from TikTok users in Florida, who broadcast from their damaged homes and neighborhoods and shared their evacuation journeys.