CHICAGO (CBS) — Hurricane Milton made landfall on Florida's west coast Wednesday evening, and some people fled early to the Chicago area – while some Chicagoans stayed behind and weathered the storm in Florida.

One family, the Scotts, had to split up. Father, children and grandmother all made it to Chicago, but mother couldn't go because of her work.

Back in Chicago, Shaka Scott kept an eye on the safety of his home from a safe distance of 1,100 miles. He has four cameras pointed at the house.

“This is probably the most I’ve ever checked,” Scott said. “You can see the palm trees swaying in the wind.”

The rain increased and conditions worsened as the cameras rolled. Scott said these conditions were exactly why he took his children to Chicago.

“Exactly,” he said, “and this is just the beginning of the storm.”

Scott decided to leave Tampa and board a plane with his three children and his mother. They arrived at his in-laws' home in Chicago on Monday.

“It's not cheap to get tickets for five people, but we did it – and were able to get out before the airport closed,” Scott said.

Even though the Scotts' home in Tampa is not within the evacuation zone, Scott didn't want to take any chances with his family.

“Even if we are not afraid of flooding, at least we are in a safe place if there are other impacts such as a lack of power or disruption of other aspects of infrastructure,” Scott said.

Still, Scott felt that Milton and the threat were different from most hurricanes.

“I never left town because of a hurricane,” he said.

While Scott, his children and his mother were all safe in Chicago, they left his wife Dalia behind in Tampa.

“She is a journalist in the Tampa Bay Area and is currently working on covering the storm for her station. “I’m worried,” Scott said. “She is a professional. She has experience in this, so I trust her judgment.”

The children are grateful that Dad trusted his gut and left early.

“I'm happy,” Anna Scott said, “because when I got back home I probably would have been scared or something.”

“We had a week off school and now we know we have power,” said Richard Scott.

Joseph Scott enjoys his stay at his grandmother's house.

“It was great,” he said. “You couldn’t ask for better treatment; better food.”

A woman who splits her time between Chicago and Florida decides to weather the storm

Back in Florida, Lena Smith — who splits her time between Chicago and Tampa — decided not to evacuate. She doesn't live in the zone where it is required.

“We are not in a flood zone and we are not in an evacuation zone, so we should be safe,” she said in a social media video.

But Smith reported sideways rain and said there were tornadoes everywhere.

Smith weathered Hurricane Milton in Florida with her family and took people along for the ride – posting updates on social media.

“As a Chicagoan now experiencing our second hurricane in 10 days,” Smith said.

Smith, who had already weathered Hurricane Helene, said she prepared for landfall in Milton by making last-minute trips to the grocery store to pick up essentials like water and flashlights. At home late Wednesday before landing, Smith was busy charging the family's electronics while the power was still on.

“This is just a game about being prepared,” she said.

Kevin Petschow had the opposite impulse and decided to evacuate.

“It was easy for me,” he said. “I could survive a Category 1, a Category 2. But when I saw the transition from a 2 to a 5 accelerate on Sunday going into Monday, the decision became much easier for me.”

Five years ago, Petschow left the snowy winters of the Chicago suburbs and moved to Tampa to enjoy the sun. He flew back to Chicago on Monday to escape the storm.

“Oh, how ironic that is,” Petschow said. “I joked that I never wanted to shovel snow again, and that’s true. But I didn’t realize the impact hurricanes have down there.”

Although Petschow will miss the storm, he said many of his friends and neighbors stayed home in Tampa.

“I stay in touch with them as best I can and give them moral support,” he said.

Petschow lives with his family in Wrigleyville and said he is unsure when he will return to Florida. Ultimately, it will depend on how severe the storm damage is to his Tampa home.