We’re hearing from people with ties to our state who are hunkering down in their homes in Florida.

They are dealing with everything from powerful winds to tornadoes.

“This is the worst hurricane I’ve ever been through,” Carissa Carter, of Palmetto, FL, said.

Carter is originally from East Hartford and is now living near Sarasota.

“We lost power 20 minutes ago. It sounds like a train wreck. It’s really scary outside. I chose to stay here in my home in Florida because we live in a concrete block home,” Carter said.

On the east coast, a scary scene unfolded near Palm Beach and the home of Jordan Oaks who is originally from Rocky Hill.

“There’s people going crazy down here. My neighbors are all looking outside, just watching this tornado rip through these yards. And you can see the actual debris of what looks like roofing, trees flying in the air and just going north,” Jordan Oaks, of Westlake, FL, said.

Near Orlando rain pounded the home of Jason Berry, who is originally from Franklin. He put out sandbags and did other preparations.

“We have a lot of patio furniture on our full deck, so we put that away. Any loose objects in the yard that can go flying, those are all packed away in the garage. Our neighbors boarded up their windows,” Berry said.

People hunkered down all around the Sunshine State and are now hoping for the best amid the fury of Milton.

“I just hope everybody’s staying safe, and prayers goes out to everybody,” Oaks said.

Oaks, who is a country musician, just released his debut album and hopes to be able to fly back to Connecticut on Friday.

He’s set to play at the Southington Apple Harvest Festival on Saturday.

Erica Soares, 24, of Waterbury, shared her story on Wednesday in front of dozens of local and state leaders to help create change. 

“At a young age, I faced challenges most people don’t experience in a lifetime; homelessness, sexual assault, the incarceration of a parent, losing a parent,” Soares said. 

Soares did not let her circumstances define her. Currently, she is getting her master’s degree and is heavily involved with the Waterbury Police Activity League. In the spring, she met with students and local leaders to help address the crisis of disconnected youth. 

“They were just excited that the mayors wanted to sit down and listen to them, they weren’t questioning them or anything like that,” Soares added. 

Similar conversations have been ongoing in communities across our state during the last eight months to create a new strategy to help Connecticut’s youngest population. 

“How we can reconnect disconnected youth is simply just talking, just filling a part,” said David Mezard, of Stamford. 

Mezard overcame his own challenges of being incarcerated. He now advocates for more programs to be in place to help the youth. 

The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, or CCM, released a new report on Wednesday, outlining a 10-year plan to help re-engage youth who are on a path to drop out of school or out of the workforce. 

“Really it is a report to residents, and to help empower residents to really think about how we can get our youth back on track,” Stonington First Selectwoman Danielle Chesebrough said. 

According to the 119K commission, organized by CCM, 119,000 young people between the ages of 14 and 26 are at-risk or have already detached from their lives. CCM’s proposed strategy focuses on cutting the crisis in half, getting 60,000 people back on the right path over the course of a decade. 

The plan proposes changes to policies in education and calls for more federal funding and incremental state investments of $500 million in public schools. 

“There is a really strong return on investment, we are paying for this over the long term, never mind the human value of all of this,” Chesebrough added. 

Local leaders plan to utilize the report in the upcoming legislative session to advocate for policy changes and more funding.

Connecticut high school football is back and so begins our Player of the Week polls for the state. Teams showcased more of what they’ve got heading into Week 5 of the regular season.

As such, we have 15 athletes nominated this week for the SBLive’s Connecticut Football Player of the Week award from October 3-5, and we ask you, the fans, to help decide who should indeed be the top athlete selected.

D’Angelo led the charge in the Cardinals’ 21-20 victory over Bishop Hendricken (Rhode Island), accounting for 210 all-purpose yards and three touchdowns.

SBLive voting polls are intended to be a fun way to create fan engagement and express support for your favorite high school athletes and teams. Unless expressly noted, there are no awards for winning the voting. Our primary focus is to highlight the abilities and accomplishments of all the athletes and teams included in our poll. You can vote as often as you wish and are encouraged to share our polls with others. The use of voting bots and other forms of automated voting are not allowed. Individuals will be removed from the poll if any form of automated voting can be verified. – SBLive Sports

Voting closes at 11:59 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 13th. The winner will be announced in the following week’s poll. Here are this week’s nominees:

The Crosby running back had one of the top rushing performances in a 48-25 win over St. Paul Catholic, rushing for 250 yards on 11 carries and scoring four touchdowns.

Lewis had a big night receiving wise in Windsor’s 35-0 win over South Windosr, hauling in seven catches for 168 yards and a touchdown.

In West Haven’s 40-14 win over Hamden, Conlan accounted for 277 yards of offense and totaled four touchdowns. Conlan completed 10-of-15 passes for 175 yards through and the air and rushed for 102 on the ground.

The McMahon quarterback was extremely efficient in the team’s 48-0 win over Bridgeport Central, completing 5-of-9 passes for 160 yards and four touchdowns.

Pagano was lockdown at defensive back in St. Joseph’s 38-13 win over Stamford, intercepting a pass and returning it 74 yards and batting away two other passes.

The Cardinals’ running back was the workhorse in Greenwich’s 42-14 win over Danbury, rushing for 132 yards on 18 carries and scored three touchdowns.

New Canaan’s strong safety was everywhere on the field in the team’s 30-14 win over Ludlowe, making 13 tackles, intercepting a pass and deflecting three others.

Casdia was the offensive workhorse in Glastonbury’s 35-25 win over Manchester, rushing for 142 yards on 25 carries and scored three touchdowns.

In East Hartford’s 49-30 loss to Maloney, Roberts rushed for 140 yards on 24 carries and scored four times.

Puzio accounted for 194 yards and four touchdowns in Berlin’s 48-21 win over Conard last week.

The Jesuits’ quarterback was on point in a 42-19 win over Xavier, completing 10-of-19 passes for 239 yards and five touchdowns.

Goldhill only needed five carries to rush for 93 yards and scored three touchdowns in a 47-0 win over Westhil.

The Hand Tigers’ quarterback completed 9-of-13 passes for 142 yards and three touchdowns in a 52-29 win over Shelton.

Deitelbaum went off in Naugatuck’s 58-36 victoy over Watertown, rushing for 248 yards on 19 carries and scored five touchdowns.

In Fitch’s 35-33 win over East Lyme, Carter accounted for 213 all-purpose yards and three touhdowns.

Be sure to Bookmark High School on SI for all of the latest high school football news.

To get live updates on your phone – as well as follow your favorite teams and top games – you can download the SBLive Sports app: Download iPhone App| Download Android App

— Andy Villamarzo | villamarzo@scorebooklive.com | @sbliveconn