When I started this blog, I remember coming up with the idea of it floating around learning to survive in the real world. Never in my dreams did I think I was going to survive a hurricane.
Most of you who have continued to follow my adventures know that just under a year ago, my husband and I moved to Florida, specifically Fort Myers. Recently we’ve been working on buying a house through the VA which is a whole ‘nother story.
Two weekends ago, we spent time celebrating my parents birthdays on a yacht here on the beach. It was amazing but throughout the whole experience, I spent a lot of time talking about the hurricane that was predicted to come in the Gulf. My parents all called me crazy for thinking it would come to us.
Fast forward a few days; my husband and I both caught covid. He gave me his covid and from Sunday through today, I’ve been told to quarantine. Obviously paranoid me decided to get water and whatever food I could think of that didn’t require fridge or heat to make… Let’s be honest, picky me is going to lose a lot of weight now because it was only garbage food that I could find and actually like. Not a fan of PB&J’s.
Yesterday morning, the 28th, my husband and I looked at each other and weighed the pros and cons of staying. Government obviously wanted me to continue working and him as well but we knew power would be out and our jobs would be called off. With forecasters saying the hurricane will hit Tampa instead of us, we decided to stay. Worst that could happen to us was we lose power and maybe our roof.
It was brutal. I wouldn’t say winds sounds like a train, because that’s what I was told it would sound like. It’s kinda like standing next to a plane outside when they turn the engines on. Just really loud wind. Nothing really new to us from living in Midwest previously.
We lost power at around 3pm. The winds were bad then but somehow we kept power until 3. At that point, it felt like a bad thunderstorm, without the thunder. Not a lot of rain came down fast. It was a steady rain. Our parking lot filled up, which it always does.
Trees. That’s the biggest memory I will have from the storm. Trees broke everywhere. We watched trees uproot. We watched palms crack and tip onto cars. Branches the width of my own body cracked like a twig.
At about 6pm it got worse with wind. We watched the units across from ours rip off the roofs. Pieces flew threw the air. We believe sections of ours is gone as well but have no leaks luckily.
By 10pm, the winds were dying down. After averaging 110mph for the past couple hours, this was calming to have 60mph. Soon after the rain stopped. I decided to sleep with nothing else to do. Cell towers were down and communication had been lost with my parents and his since about 8pm. Husband decided to stay up with his guns, prepared for looters to come around.
This morning I woke at 730am. I wondered outside, exploring the down trees, helping move the branches from the pathways and off of vehicles. It was a great community feeling helping everyone.
Cell towers were off and on around 830am. My phone was popping off left and right from friends and family all around the world praying for us to be ok.
At around 10am, I recieved a call from my aunt for help. Her home was a canal home that she had to abandon at 4am. She somehow made it to my cousin’s house but barely. She was asking if we would feel comfortable trying to get to her house via kayaks. She was too weak to do so herself. We both agreed.
The reason we were sent there was to see if anything was salvagable and because the fear of her house catching fire. The local golf course and resort was on fire and couldn’t be put out because flooding was happening and power lines laid in the road. Fire trucks couldn’t reach it.
It was scary kayaking there. The sea was still receding back. Currents we’re strong and pulling us faster than we wanted. Keep in mind, this was only my second time ever kayaking with the last time being 5 minutes when I was 12. There were lines in the water along with other random household objects. Boats had tipped and now blocked paths as if a beaver had dragged everything for a new home. We could see the smoke from the fires getting closer.
After reaching a dangerous canal block, I told him I didn’t want to continue. We beached ourselves on some rocks, figured out where we were and walked the rest of the way.
The house was still standing, unlike many others that were washed away. Water levels rose to almost 6ft tall inside the house. Many of her things washed out to sea. The rest was badly damaged by water. She was lucky she left when she did.
We walked back to the kayaks and was given a ride up stream by a friendly man. We then got back in the kayak and paddled down stream. It was immensely scary. I lost control and did a circle in the kayak, almost flipping. We ran into a lot of obstacles but finally, made it back in one piece.
Now, we sit without power. There is no AC. There is no fridge. No microwave or stove. I’m hoping a friend will drive down to bring more food and water and a small grill so we can continue to make something for food. There’s no guidelines on how long it will take for power to come back. Luckily we do have water that we can shower with, but must boil to drink or wash dishes with.
Prayers needed. This town was destroyed. I’m only not crying because it will dehydrate me further. 😩😔
Out of College & Learning to Live 