THOMASVILLE — The desk clerk at the Red Roof Inn in Thomasville told the Florida couple the bad news Tuesday.

“Sorry, we’re all sold out,” she told the pair.

Getting back onto the road would be difficult for the couple. The Red Roof Inn, along with several other Thomasville hotels, sits alongside U.S. 19, a north-south federal highway leading out of central Florida through Georgia. Its northbound lanes were packed Tuesday with Florida residents and visitors fleeing the state under evacuation orders as the monster-sized Hurricane Milton, clocking in at Category 5, approached the Florida peninsula.

The National Weather Service expects Milton to make landfall Wednesday night in the Tampa Bay area; U.S. 19 leads right from Tampa through Thomasville.

U.S. 19 isn’t the only road choked by refugees. I-75, which also passes through Tampa, heads right through Lowndes County. As one of only two north-south interstate routes between Georgia and Florida, I-75 has long been a major evacuation route for storm-weary Floridians.

The Georgia Department of Transportation has been monitoring traffic levels as the storm approaches, and the number of cars on I-75 Tuesday was 280% higher than normal between Lowndes County and Macon.

Georgia authorities have been urging Florida residents not to stop in South Georgia to wait the storm out; the region was itself recently devastated by Hurricane Helene and has few resources to spare.

A quick check of online hotel booking services Tuesday showed no room at the inn in Valdosta, Thomasville or Tifton.

“I’ve heard every room south of Atlanta has been sold out,” said Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk. “When they’re getting off I-75 here, they’re looking for gasoline.”