A Waterville-area business leader rode out Hurricane Milton on the Gulf Coast on Wednesday night, awaking Thursday to many tree branches down, but not nearly the amount of rain that had been projected for that part of Florida.

“We feel very lucky,” Kimberly Lindlof said Thursday from Venice, Florida. “I’ve never been in a hurricane like this. We are lucky it wasn’t worse, but I’ve never seen trees bent like that, I’ve never seen sliding-glass door windows bow like that. I didn’t know that could happen, especially without breaking.”

Lindlof, president and CEO of the Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce in Waterville, is vacationing with her partner, Ted Helberg, in their second-floor condo in a large development that includes houses, duplexes and condominiums.

On Wednesday, they packed the freezer with ice, filled the bathtub with water and awaited a power outage, which came around 7:30 p.m., she said. They were prepared to sleep in a closet if a tornado hit the area, she said.

But that didn’t happen. Lindlof said she slept through the worst of the storm and on Thursday morning she and Helberg drove around Venice, checking out homes of friends from Maine to report back to them on any damage.

Central Mainers Charlie and Nancy Gaunce, for instance, are Florida residents who live about a mile from Lindlof and Helberg’s condo, but they weren’t there for the storm and are expected in Florida in less than two weeks, Lindlof said.

She said she took photos of the Gaunce’s house, which has a screened-in patio.

“So, the whole thing is screened in, including the roof and sides,” she said. “It folded up like a cheap suit. It’s totaled.”

She said she has been in contact with Charlie Gaunce, who said it was OK to mention the damage as it would save him from having to answer to everyone who would surely ask.

“We lucked out,” Lindlof said. “We’re in Zone C. A and B were mandatory evacuation, closer to the coast.”

Their condo, in Sarasota County, is 6.8 miles from the coast and just south of Sarasota, the city.

“The damage here is mostly with ripped screens,” she said. “There’s no flooding. The hurricane made landfall in Siesta Key and we’re south of that.”

Lindlof said there were many tree branches down throughout Venice and lots of tiny leaves from southern oak trees, which are unlike oak trees in Maine and do not stand up well to wind. Palm trees, she said, are much heartier.

While supermarkets, gas stations and retail stores were closed Thursday, she said they found a bagel shop that cooked with gas, so they were able to get breakfast.

While they are scheduled Sunday to fly out of the airport in Punta Gorda to return to Maine, Lindlof said no phone apps are working so she could not confirm their flight is still on. The airport is 38 minutes away, she said.

The experience of living through a hurricane was eye-opening, Lindlof said.

“With my chamber of commerce hat on, what I realize is, these kinds of storms really impact the local economy,” she said. “Ninety-five percent of places are closed — all the major supermarkets, gas stations.

“Everyone thinks Maine is the end of the world. They don’t realize there’s a whole country above us. The weather we have is pretty temperate compared to this extreme.”