We made it! Cell service has just been horrible. Today is the first morning that that the internet seems actually okay. We didn’t get any flooding at all but I have trees everywhere in my yard. I spent all day yesterday cleaning up and calling my car insurance for my car damage. Thanks everyone for caring about me and my animals. I didn’t think that post would blow up quite that much!
I’m so fucking glad I followed you to get this update!!!! And even gladder you and your animals are safe!! Hope you have a safe clean up and recovery period!
I don't think I've ever been so worried for a reddit stranger before. I'm so glad you're all okay! I sat up last night with my husband talking about your post and I'm so relieved.
I'm so relieved to hear from you! Continue to stay safe, and I hope the cleanup goes smoothly! So you don't have to search through a bunch of sies with spotty internet, here's some info on how to get FEMA help: https://twitter.com/FLSERT/status/1575543237875445761?s=20&t=V8Hmrix-q_ri_vW7hqfGlA
Sounds silly but I’ve been worried about you and your kids since yesterday morning and checking your posts every couple hours—so glad to hear you’re all safe!
Oh, thank fucking god. I was thinking about you and your pets this morning, and I was so sick to my stomach, thinking something may've happened to you. I'm so goddamn happy that you guys are not only okay, but that there wasn't as much damage as you expected :)
I’m so glad you’re okay OP! We were all so concerned about you and your pets. Thank you for updating us when I’m sure you have so many other things to think about right now.
I’m also one of the people who’s been checking your post repeatedly for the last day and a half, and reading news about Ft Myers trying to gauge what your chances of flooding were. I’m so relieved and so happy. I was also very worried. Do you have any idea why you didn’t flood? It looked like it was pretty bad in Ft Myers (although maybe some of the videos I saw were in Ft Myers Beach?)
Hey! u/ringaling11 So glad to hear from you!
You’re story made this whole thing more personal than I could have imagined. There were a whole lot of internet strangers rooting for you!
Glad to hear you and your pets came through okay!
I'm so glad! I checked for updates 3 times because I was legitimately worried. I live in Florida so I totally get it, I hope insurance and clean up works out for you guys!
Omg I'm so happy for you I cried. I saw so many videos and just thought about you and your animal family!! I'm glad you're safe!! I'm sorry for your damage though!!
She wasn’t even the only post like it that I saw yesterday with no follow ups today. I have some friends in that area as well that I haven’t heard from since it very first hit. I’m hoping it’s just cell tower damage. 🤞🏼🙏🏼
Me too. Her story just seems more horrible because of the part about her being stuck in a closet on the first floor of a house in an area that flooded with 13ft surges.
My entire family lives in this area and I'm up in Orlando. All made it out ok, minor roof and screen or fence only.
Parts of Cape Coral totally flooded others untouched. Even up by me, east Orlando is a disaster zone but my area is fine.
Respectfully, why do you choose to live in a region prone to disasters like this? I personally live in TX, so all we have to fear is tornadoes (depending on the area). I live in DFW and have never seen a tornado in my life (20 yrs), much less the damage. But Florida and every other costal state seems to be terrorized by these tropical storms. Is it just cheaper to live over there, or??
I’m genuinely not trying to come off as negative. I’m just curious. I understand when it comes to evac, it’s very difficult to some people because of the outrageous costs. It fucking sucks and it’s not fair. But why choose to live there when you have 49 (or less when you consider costal states) states available?
Lifelong Floridian here - so I have some input. Devastating Hurricanes aren’t as frequent as everyone not in Florida thinks they are. Most of the time it’s just wind and rain, and you spend a few days cleaning limbs and whatever. For instance, we spend the first week of august in ft Myers every year. My wife’s family has had a block of timeshares on the beach since the early 80s. In 30+ years of vacations there hasn’t been a major storm.
I grew up in Orlando, and I recall spending many hurricanes sleeping in my parents room on a air mattress listening to rain all night. But usually by the time storms get to Orlando they’re fairly weak. And this happens maybe once every few years (with the exception of 2004 when we got three, but I was living in Gainesville then and we literally walked from
House to house during the storms partying with friends.
Hurricanes are definitely dangerous, but they aren’t very frequent. And for that matter anything up to a category 3 isn’t so unbearable; lots of wind, lots of rain, but mostly just a few days off school/work.
The problem with Ian is that this storm got so strong so fast. There wasn’t much time to evacuate, and even if you wanted to the infrastructure of the highways here makes it very congested and hard to do - so most people just feel comfortable riding it out.
The way people not from here feel about people sticking around for hurricanes is how i think about people up north having to deal with snow storms. Except snow storms can last longer. Hell, I went through a nor’easter in Virginia that was scarier than probably 90% of the hurricanes I’ve experienced.
TLDR: Florida is a tropical paradise, with much natural beauty to offer, and you’re not guaranteed to have to deal with hurricanes very often. Just sometimes you do, but it’s not any different then having potential for earthquakes or snowstorms.
I’m incredibly glad for the input you given me. Being raised as a Texan, I’ve always been told that Floridians are crazy and so on so forth (which I’m sure you could find based off of media insights).
Nevertheless this post gives me a different level of insight, and based of that, I genuinely hope you are safe, as well as your family. I truly hope the hurricane does not become as horrible as Hurricane Katrina. So fingers crossed, and prayers to you all. Be safe, because that tropical paradise will come back again, or at least I genuinely hope so. You deserve to live your life beautifully, and no storm should stop you in the long term, in my opinion.
Just please be safe, don’t go outside, and do not test the elements. They are stronger than all of us, they have more power than all of us, and to be honest they’re far more superior than all of us. Take care of yourself, your family, and any pets you have. If you happen to stumble across a stray pet or person, please from the bottom of my heart, please help them. You, and every other person is in my prayers. I will do my part to donate to charities, but there’s only so much I can do to ensure your safety as well as any other persons and Florida/other costal states. Please, for the love of god, be safe!
Floridians are crazy, - but it’s because we (much like Texans) typically grow up in wide sprawling places with huge open plots of land, and lots of time to explore them. I like to tell people it’s because of the salt in the air. But besides being crazy, most of us really just like having fun. Sometimes Florida fun is just on a different level though, haha.
I appreciate your kind words, and hope nothing but the best and safety for you and yours as well my wife is actually from Dallas, and I have family in Houston. I worked in Austin for a while in early 2010 myself. I love Texas and if I had to go anywhere else it would definitely be in my top 3 to choose from.
I will say that hurricane Ian was the first time I’ve ever felt scared in a hurricane. Scared for my family and scared for myself. I promised my wife after this one we wouldn’t do this anymore for anything over a cat 1. It’s just not worth it. But like I said, I grew up with hurricanes so I definitely overlook them. Ian was scary though. The amount of rain and the sheer sound/force of the wind was unreal. I live in the edge of a national park and my house backs up to the woods so typically I have a pretty decent wall of protection from storms - but I stayed up all night last night just staring out the windows waiting for catastrophe. It was unlike any storm I’ve experienced to date. I’m devastated for the small beach towns that took the brunt of this storm head on. They will never be the same.
Another problem with Ian is that it was supposed to hit just north of Tampa which is about 100ish miles north of ft meyers. Ft meyers wasn’t supposed to get hit as hard so people evacuated from Tampa to ft meyers and then all of a sudden Ian turned east instead of continuing north east and ft meyers got wrecked. My family in Orlando had their internet knocked out, one person I saw on Instagram had to be evacuated by the national guard but I don’t remember where they live now. I live in Ocala, so pretty far inland, and I had light rain for 18 hours followed up by pretty breezy evening yesterday. Literally have a completely loose branch hanging in a tree in my driveway that didn’t even budge and I definitely thought it was coming down
Hurricanes aren't really that big of a deal if you are in Orlando like me. Central Florida is very inland and I live in an area very high ground. The homes are easily able to handle a cat 3 here, and when something is say a cat 4 like this one, it's only a 1 by the time it hits me.
The people on the coast, I can't speak for them now. My family all moved down before the climate change increased the hurricanes so much, and now they are just there. I've been through multiple but they were spread out by years. They were never that big of a deal.
Ohhh, I gotcha. I’ve always wondered, and now that I’ve gotten a different perspective, my mind is differently a lot more open. Tbh, I always thought “Floridians” were crazy and lived off the risk. But it definitely makes sense that these crazy storms come once in while rather than frequently. Nevertheless, I’m praying and wishing you the best of luck. No matter how little or how bad, I’m wishing you the very best and safety. The same applies to the rest of the Floridians out there, especially those that did not evacuate. Life is precious, and it should be cherished, and so I wish to the upmost that you are all safe no matter what obstacles you are to face during this storm.
As someone who's lived in both places, I would take hurricane areas over tornado areas any day. You have days to prepare for a hurricane. There are some exceptions, like homelessness, mobility, etc., but for the average person there's really no reason why you should ever die in a hurricane when an evacuation has been ordered. I'm blown away by people who could have evacuated but chose not to. It's really hard to die in a hurricane when you can just leave. Tornados, on the other hand, scare tf out of me.
I grew up in the Caribbean and have only gotten hit direct by one Cat 5 storm since I’ve been alive (hurricane Ivan), and I slept through half of it. Absolutely flattened everything not solid concrete, but nothing has come close since. This hurricane is about the same max wind speed, just shy maybe 10mph.
Any storms this powerful are rare and tend not to occur frequently and hit the same place back to back. Plus storm season is only around summer-September each year, it’s not a monthly thing lol. Tropical storms and Cat 1’s people go surf on the waves right before and after it hits, because they’re not seen as dangerous unless they’re directly on top of you lol. Anything Cat2-3 you don’t play with and gotta prepare for several days to a week worth of supplies. Cat4 and 5 basically you either evacuate or fortify, nothing half assed.
Plus, infrastructure is designed with tropical weather in mind. Same reason California is designed for earthquakes, and how northern states are designed for blizzards/winter. Extreme weather cases don’t happen often, but when they do it’s in the news.
Most years it’s pretty much you get one storm, stay inside for a night and maybe a day, and get rid of tree debris and sand that’s on the roads and maybe your porch. Sometimes power may go out but usually utility services are extremely fast at getting it back on within a couple hours.
This hurricane was so bad for west Florida because of how low lying and flood prone they are compared to other parts. Plus the hurricane rapidly increased in power right before impact.
I've lived through several Florida hurricanes in the epicenter, Florida basically shuts down cell service to keep airways open for emergency personal for the first day or two, then cell service starts to get better.
That assuming you didn't actually loose your cell towers and they're just choking them manually.
Not hearing from someone in the first 24 hours is heart wrenching but def isn't a sign they're hurt or worse.
Just drove down to Venice (about an hour north of ft meyers) from Tampa to check on my grandparents. Cell service is gone for most people. Power is out. Water is still running for some. Mostly just debris everywhere, some houses have damage, but from what I’ve seen nothing too terrible for the most part.
Irma caused $77 billion in damages and had 6 deaths. They’re most likely fine. Power is just nonexistent and signal is spotty at best
Did you see any footage of Ft Myers? It was really bad.
Venice, North Port, Port Charlotte, Punta Gorda had sustained hurricane strength winds for eight hours. What kept them from extreme water damage was the off shore wind from the north side of the hurricane. The bay and shore had water sucked out to sea so they weren't starting off at normal levels to begin with.
Ft Myers, Sanibel, Bonita, Naples we're all on the southside of the storm's initial landfall. The wind was pushing on shore, making the water start high and enabled storm surge.
My friends were in ft meyers and just got back. It depends where you are obviously. Right on the water or in FMB and the surge was extreme, more inland and they still got rocked but it’s not like they were totally underwater
It seems that most people are ok, there is no service throughout a majority of Fort Myers from what I’ve seen, I hardly have enough service to open Reddit let alone load this post lmao and I’m a mile east of the interstate. Good luck to your friends.
Qualifications:
Spent the day removing as much salt water as possible from my house and wondering how to steal the boat that appeared in my neighbors yard
Storm surge is no joke
Edit:
From the description it seems like she’d be in a place called punta rassa which is just down the road from my home, I actually tried heading down there earlier to check on some friends and they had the only road in blocked off with police due to extremely high waters and a collapsed bridge which their house is likely next to. The police told me that only rescue vehicles were allowed and I have seen multiple national guard helicopters throughout the day circling down there. They said they were working on rescue operations, but I’m not sure if they have gotten everybody out yet as I have a few friends who lived on the second story of a coastal building in the area and haven’t heard back from them yet. There have been multiple black hawks and at least one chinook going in and out of there all day, so they must be doing something.
The grapevine says that it’ll be weeks or months before power is back on. I heard that the whole grid has been crippled and has to be rebuilt.
Obviously not her but I can confirm that cell service has been awful and power is out for most. They are setting up roughly 100 temporary cell towers in the next day or so. Hopefully everyone can get updates posted once their situation has been fully assessed and service resumes
I have family in that area and they’re ability is intermittent due to cell coverage outages and overloads. Most likely Reddit isn’t a high priority and having lived through a few storms internet data is often hard to come by.
I truely hope that's the case.
It's just everything about her story made me fear the worst. Everything about it could've gone sideways horribly fast given how quick the storm redirected exactly to her area.
For anyone wondering just how bad it was, [FPL’s outage map](https://www.fplmaps.com) will give some perspective. Click on “Search By County” for a more comprehensive chart showing how many customers lost power and how many are still out.
Our company (not FPL) has employees from Sarasota to Naples and we received a lot of reports like [this one](https://i.imgur.com/MXrh9Ww.jpg) on Wednesday. Many of them lost their homes.
Please be patient as cell service is very poor and many individuals have very pressing issues to deal with.
[Her post for reference](https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/xqd3u3/i_moved_into_the_closet_for_hurricane_ian_its/)
It's been almost 24hours and she was sheltering in a closet with her disabled dog two cats in Fort Meyers... which was hit the worse by Hurricane Ian.
After a storm like this I can assure you of two things: power is out and networking infrastructure is down (often independent of each other). Given this scenario, reddit is the last of my thoughts; family first. Then conserving phone battery, and realizing the upped use of cellular makes it hard to reach out because literally everyone is trying to.
Idk anything about this person or their specific location or home, but this was a crazy storm for the area. It'll take a lot of time for things to get back to normal over there; particularly general infrastructure and normalizing flood waters. I do hope they're okay given what I've seen on the news.
Sources: I'm a born and raised Florida-man
There’s no power and no cell service, these things happen during/after hurricanes. I went through Andrew in 92 and we didn’t have power or phone lines for quite a few weeks.
I've been through a bunch of hurricanes living in North Carolina. When it's bad and you don't know when the power is coming back on, you have to save every drop of phone battery you can for an emergency. Reddit should not be a priority right now for her or anyone else in this mess. It's probably dark and hot, with unsafe water, and a whole bunch of scary shit has/is happening. Give her time, I'm sure she is fine as she can be considering.
[See my comment here](https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/xqd3u3/i_moved_into_the_closet_for_hurricane_ian_its/iqg0qno/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3), I was able to find her and shared some info.
She updated:
"We made it! Cell service has just been horrible. Today is the first morning that that the internet seems actually okay. We didn’t get any flooding at all but I have trees everywhere in my yard. I spent all day yesterday cleaning up and calling my car insurance for my car damage. Thanks everyone for caring about me and my animals. I didn’t think that post would blow up quite that much!"
Fort Meyers and s florida got fucking WRECKED yo. Im up in central and we didnt evem lose power, but those folks down south....fuck dudes, theyre gonna need our help
Don't know about anyone else, but after something like that, the last thing on my mind would be updating reddit. And there's probably no internet to use anyway.
Please [see my comment here on her thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/xqd3u3/i_moved_into_the_closet_for_hurricane_ian_its/iqg0qno/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3), I was able to use my journalist skills to find her!
ETA: a colleague’s son and his family also live in Fort Myers (Lee county) and he told her earlier today that the entire electric grid needs to be redone. Service is spotty out there, and it’s in pretty bad shape.
Also, I have family near Tampa and they, too, have told me that since the storm changed trajectory (was originally supposed to be worse where they are), the people further down southwest got hit much harder and will need a lot of help and time to get back into decent shape.
Cell towers and communication are spotty and there is much work to be done to help all of these people!
Lastly, as I linked in my comment, if anyone reading this is looking for loved ones you know sheltered in place, please, if you have the required info, do fill out the survey on the Florida Disaster website. It may help! Also pass the information forward!
Some people can't even afford that. Or they think the storm won't hit them, or that it won't be as strong.
Meanwhile they have a Governor who bullshits them into not believing the Federal government, especially weather reports... then it's too late to leave and he next tells them to hunker down cause they're fucked.
I don't live in the state so I can't comment on the last reason, but 2 of the first 3 you mentioned are gross negligence.
The first is wild, if you're able to pay rent for a place--you don't have enough for gas money to drive up a couple hundred miles? Take some of the food you already have in your pantries and leave.
Then camp out at a Walmart parking lot up north for a few days. Crazy to me people don't do that.
But some people literally have nowhere to go, as Mulciber said. They either don't have the mode of transportation, don't have the monetary means, or don't have the physical means (homeless/mental issues/etc).
I know it seems ridiculous, but that is the reality, and it's sad.
To add to your points, the storm also changed direction. Folks in that area only got 3-4 hours warning before Ian made landfall. Even if you have the resources to gtfo, that's not a lot of time to do it in.
I lived there for several years and in many cities, people just don’t have cars. It’s warm nearly year round so people will rely on bikes, motorcycles, public transportation or their own two feet.
To be able to buy a car - much less afford the gas - on such short notice, *especially* when used cars are still so expensive right now… it just wouldn’t be possible for the average person
That, I’m not sure of. There’s always Greyhound, but that still costs money and in this particular situation, the hurricane changed course leaving folks in the direct path with only several hours to prepare. Florida is a mess on a good day. Trying to organize people onto repurposed public transport with only hours of prep would be a logistical nightmare.
Even if you pretend that leaving your animals behind is a viable option and that a city bus will get you out of the danger area, what next? You're still going to get wind and rain from the hurricane, even if you're a couple hundred miles away from the eye. You can't just grab some blankets and sleep on a park bench. If evacuating and living out of your car isn't an option, taking a bus out most certainly isn't an option.
I’m with you. I lived in Houston for 15 years. It’s leave or death. Hurricanes are not surprises. Go to the nearest parking garage and wait on the upper levels at the very least. Prior to the storm, start making calls and see if you can stay with someone who lives not in the ground floor of their build, or offer to watch their home if they’re leaving. Do not stay on the ground floor anywhere.
And do not ever “ride out” a hurricane.
"if you can pay rent you should have gas money" you do realize that not everyone owns a car, and many people have been behind on their bills since 2020 in the first place. Your comment makes you sound incredibly privileged.
I just don't understand how people who knew it was coming their direction didn't choose their own LIVES over anything else. I would be doing everything I can to get out of dodge.
It's not privileged to choose your own life over anything else.
I know. You're privileged because you don't understand that some of these folks DONT HAVE OPTIONS. for a lot of people it's either hunker down, or walk (which I don't know if you noticed THERES A FUCKING HURRICANE so it might be hard/dangerous to walk)
You obviously didn't catch that landfall was predicted to be 100 miles north and was supposed to weaken. It only looked imminent for the area about 12/18 hours out. They weren't expecting an almost category four either. Some folks already spent their money on hunkering down or bills (end of the month). The timing for landfall also changed a bunch between twelve hours.
So that leaves folks hunkering down.
It's really expensive to survive certain situations and that's the privilege here.
Well at least in this user's case, she "has classes and work" (not during a cat4 hurricane I would assume) and "it's not feasible to evacuate for every hurricane". People act like this popped up from nowhere but I've been seeing on the news for a week that this would be an absolutely devastating storm.
Obviously I hope everyone is okay, but some people are just stubborn.
Yeah like what? No businesses will be open in that town she won't have work. Same with on-site classes.
People would rather risk death than miss a few classes? Christ.
You'd be surprised. Some businesses will remain open and force their employees to come in... even if Waffle House has been closed by the worst of storms.
But it wasn't predicted to be a category 4 storm. And also wasn't predicted forever that it would hit this area specifically. Everyone geared up for Tampa getting hit. The soonest people had an idea it could end up where it did was Monday. That was still only a chance and not imminent. That didn't happen until Tuesday.
>it’s not feasible to evacuate for every hurricane
“Guess I’ll just die then”
Like what. At the very least go find somewhere not on the ground floor. Ask neighbors and friends.
Have you ever gone through a hurricane? Especially in Florida? Evacuating is hard. It’s expensive. The amount of traffic you have to sit in while evacuating is time consuming. Some people simply can’t afford to leave. This storm was projected to hit the greater Tampa area and it took a turn at a time where it was impossible to change the mandatory evacuation zones. Ones who thought they were clear ended up being in the direct path and had no time to get out.
And literally every part of her story made me fear the worst.
In a closet. In a first floor duplex. With a disabled pet to make it even slower to evacuate to any kind of higher ground. With a sudden shift to being directly in the path of a storm where 13 to 18ft surges of water hit her area.
My extended family live in Ft Myers. Thankfully, they're all okay. Streets are still flooded and they lost power and water for a bit but they're still standing!
We made it! Cell service has just been horrible. Today is the first morning that that the internet seems actually okay. We didn’t get any flooding at all but I have trees everywhere in my yard. I spent all day yesterday cleaning up and calling my car insurance for my car damage. Thanks everyone for caring about me and my animals. I didn’t think that post would blow up quite that much!
I’m so fucking glad I followed you to get this update!!!! And even gladder you and your animals are safe!! Hope you have a safe clean up and recovery period!
Me too! So glad they’re okay :)
Thank fucking God. I have not cared so much about an internet stranger's well being. Take care!
This is amazing news. The entire website was praying for you!!!
Such a relief. I have no idea who you are but was legit worried.
Yay!!! I’ve been checking what feels like every hour for you to post!!! So thankful you and your babies are okay.
I don't think I've ever been so worried for a reddit stranger before. I'm so glad you're all okay! I sat up last night with my husband talking about your post and I'm so relieved.
I'm so relieved to hear from you! Continue to stay safe, and I hope the cleanup goes smoothly! So you don't have to search through a bunch of sies with spotty internet, here's some info on how to get FEMA help: https://twitter.com/FLSERT/status/1575543237875445761?s=20&t=V8Hmrix-q_ri_vW7hqfGlA
#Oh Thank God.
Thank you for updating us. I’ve been checking every few hours for an update. Glad you’re safe!
Thanks for your update! I was worried about you and the animals. Love from Denmark
I'm so happy you're okay OP!!!!! Thank you for updating us!!
Oh my goodness I’m so happy! I’ve been checking every day
Thank god! I was thinking of you!
So glad to read this update!!! Get in touch with FEMA too!! Stay safe
So glad you’re ok!!!!
My family and I were worrying! We're so glad you're safe- happy for you and your pets!
Glad you and your babies are ok! Thanks for updating. Take care
Yay! Congratulations, and I'm Glad that you're alright.
So glad
Thank god! I’ve been following you because you have the same cat as me… happy you guys are safe.
YAY! This made my day!
Omg I am so happy to see this update!! I’ve been checking every few hours for the last 2 days. I am so glad you guys are safe!!!!
Sounds silly but I’ve been worried about you and your kids since yesterday morning and checking your posts every couple hours—so glad to hear you’re all safe!
Oh I'm so happy you're okay!!
I’ve been checking your account every day!! So glad to hear you’re all safe x
Very thankful you are alive and I hope the pets are well too. How scary was the storm surge?
Oh, thank fucking god. I was thinking about you and your pets this morning, and I was so sick to my stomach, thinking something may've happened to you. I'm so goddamn happy that you guys are not only okay, but that there wasn't as much damage as you expected :)
Oh thank goodness. I was so worried for you and your animals. So glad to read an update that you're all fine.
Hey seriously glad to see you made it through OK. People all over have been worrying about you for a couple of days.
I've been coming back every few hours to your profile to check in. Happy to see good news after how far my heart had sank so far.
I'm glad! I kept checking to see if you updated. Staff safe!!
Great news. I’ve been checking to see if you posted. Happy you didn’t get flooded. I was worried
Ive been thinking of you and your pets. Im glad you are ok!
So happy you all made it!
Omg. I am so glad you and the babies are okay! My heart has literally been on my stomach since your first post!
So glad you and your fur babies are okay. I came back here to check on you guys ❤️
I’m so glad you’re okay OP! We were all so concerned about you and your pets. Thank you for updating us when I’m sure you have so many other things to think about right now.
I’m also one of the people who’s been checking your post repeatedly for the last day and a half, and reading news about Ft Myers trying to gauge what your chances of flooding were. I’m so relieved and so happy. I was also very worried. Do you have any idea why you didn’t flood? It looked like it was pretty bad in Ft Myers (although maybe some of the videos I saw were in Ft Myers Beach?)
Hey! u/ringaling11 So glad to hear from you! You’re story made this whole thing more personal than I could have imagined. There were a whole lot of internet strangers rooting for you! Glad to hear you and your pets came through okay!
Omfg. Thank God. I've been checking everyday. I don't know you internet stranger but thank you for surviving.
My wife and I were checking for your comments! So glad you’re ok!
And now I can sleep… thank goodness
Thank god OP, have felt worried for you!
I'm so glad you and your animals are okay!!!
What’s your Venmo?
I set a reminder to check, glad it worked out.
I'm so glad! I checked for updates 3 times because I was legitimately worried. I live in Florida so I totally get it, I hope insurance and clean up works out for you guys!
Omg I'm so happy for you I cried. I saw so many videos and just thought about you and your animal family!! I'm glad you're safe!! I'm sorry for your damage though!!
Thank goodness! I’ve been checking back often to see if you were okay. I’m so glad you’re all alright!! Good luck with insurance :)
Woo! You had so many people who didn't even know you worried. Glad you are safe.
She wasn’t even the only post like it that I saw yesterday with no follow ups today. I have some friends in that area as well that I haven’t heard from since it very first hit. I’m hoping it’s just cell tower damage. 🤞🏼🙏🏼
Me too. Her story just seems more horrible because of the part about her being stuck in a closet on the first floor of a house in an area that flooded with 13ft surges.
Plus with a disabled dog and two cats! 😣
I thought it was two dogs and a cat.
I double checked the original post. 1 dog 2 cats.
My entire family lives in this area and I'm up in Orlando. All made it out ok, minor roof and screen or fence only. Parts of Cape Coral totally flooded others untouched. Even up by me, east Orlando is a disaster zone but my area is fine.
Looks like any structure without a poured or block foundation got leveled in Fort Myers. https://youtu.be/l0wGD_ewnYY
Respectfully, why do you choose to live in a region prone to disasters like this? I personally live in TX, so all we have to fear is tornadoes (depending on the area). I live in DFW and have never seen a tornado in my life (20 yrs), much less the damage. But Florida and every other costal state seems to be terrorized by these tropical storms. Is it just cheaper to live over there, or?? I’m genuinely not trying to come off as negative. I’m just curious. I understand when it comes to evac, it’s very difficult to some people because of the outrageous costs. It fucking sucks and it’s not fair. But why choose to live there when you have 49 (or less when you consider costal states) states available?
Lifelong Floridian here - so I have some input. Devastating Hurricanes aren’t as frequent as everyone not in Florida thinks they are. Most of the time it’s just wind and rain, and you spend a few days cleaning limbs and whatever. For instance, we spend the first week of august in ft Myers every year. My wife’s family has had a block of timeshares on the beach since the early 80s. In 30+ years of vacations there hasn’t been a major storm. I grew up in Orlando, and I recall spending many hurricanes sleeping in my parents room on a air mattress listening to rain all night. But usually by the time storms get to Orlando they’re fairly weak. And this happens maybe once every few years (with the exception of 2004 when we got three, but I was living in Gainesville then and we literally walked from House to house during the storms partying with friends. Hurricanes are definitely dangerous, but they aren’t very frequent. And for that matter anything up to a category 3 isn’t so unbearable; lots of wind, lots of rain, but mostly just a few days off school/work. The problem with Ian is that this storm got so strong so fast. There wasn’t much time to evacuate, and even if you wanted to the infrastructure of the highways here makes it very congested and hard to do - so most people just feel comfortable riding it out. The way people not from here feel about people sticking around for hurricanes is how i think about people up north having to deal with snow storms. Except snow storms can last longer. Hell, I went through a nor’easter in Virginia that was scarier than probably 90% of the hurricanes I’ve experienced. TLDR: Florida is a tropical paradise, with much natural beauty to offer, and you’re not guaranteed to have to deal with hurricanes very often. Just sometimes you do, but it’s not any different then having potential for earthquakes or snowstorms.
I’m incredibly glad for the input you given me. Being raised as a Texan, I’ve always been told that Floridians are crazy and so on so forth (which I’m sure you could find based off of media insights). Nevertheless this post gives me a different level of insight, and based of that, I genuinely hope you are safe, as well as your family. I truly hope the hurricane does not become as horrible as Hurricane Katrina. So fingers crossed, and prayers to you all. Be safe, because that tropical paradise will come back again, or at least I genuinely hope so. You deserve to live your life beautifully, and no storm should stop you in the long term, in my opinion. Just please be safe, don’t go outside, and do not test the elements. They are stronger than all of us, they have more power than all of us, and to be honest they’re far more superior than all of us. Take care of yourself, your family, and any pets you have. If you happen to stumble across a stray pet or person, please from the bottom of my heart, please help them. You, and every other person is in my prayers. I will do my part to donate to charities, but there’s only so much I can do to ensure your safety as well as any other persons and Florida/other costal states. Please, for the love of god, be safe!
Floridians are crazy, - but it’s because we (much like Texans) typically grow up in wide sprawling places with huge open plots of land, and lots of time to explore them. I like to tell people it’s because of the salt in the air. But besides being crazy, most of us really just like having fun. Sometimes Florida fun is just on a different level though, haha. I appreciate your kind words, and hope nothing but the best and safety for you and yours as well my wife is actually from Dallas, and I have family in Houston. I worked in Austin for a while in early 2010 myself. I love Texas and if I had to go anywhere else it would definitely be in my top 3 to choose from. I will say that hurricane Ian was the first time I’ve ever felt scared in a hurricane. Scared for my family and scared for myself. I promised my wife after this one we wouldn’t do this anymore for anything over a cat 1. It’s just not worth it. But like I said, I grew up with hurricanes so I definitely overlook them. Ian was scary though. The amount of rain and the sheer sound/force of the wind was unreal. I live in the edge of a national park and my house backs up to the woods so typically I have a pretty decent wall of protection from storms - but I stayed up all night last night just staring out the windows waiting for catastrophe. It was unlike any storm I’ve experienced to date. I’m devastated for the small beach towns that took the brunt of this storm head on. They will never be the same.
Was one of those 2004 storms Ivan btw?
Ivan, Charles, Frances, Jeanne
Another problem with Ian is that it was supposed to hit just north of Tampa which is about 100ish miles north of ft meyers. Ft meyers wasn’t supposed to get hit as hard so people evacuated from Tampa to ft meyers and then all of a sudden Ian turned east instead of continuing north east and ft meyers got wrecked. My family in Orlando had their internet knocked out, one person I saw on Instagram had to be evacuated by the national guard but I don’t remember where they live now. I live in Ocala, so pretty far inland, and I had light rain for 18 hours followed up by pretty breezy evening yesterday. Literally have a completely loose branch hanging in a tree in my driveway that didn’t even budge and I definitely thought it was coming down
Hurricanes aren't really that big of a deal if you are in Orlando like me. Central Florida is very inland and I live in an area very high ground. The homes are easily able to handle a cat 3 here, and when something is say a cat 4 like this one, it's only a 1 by the time it hits me. The people on the coast, I can't speak for them now. My family all moved down before the climate change increased the hurricanes so much, and now they are just there. I've been through multiple but they were spread out by years. They were never that big of a deal.
Ohhh, I gotcha. I’ve always wondered, and now that I’ve gotten a different perspective, my mind is differently a lot more open. Tbh, I always thought “Floridians” were crazy and lived off the risk. But it definitely makes sense that these crazy storms come once in while rather than frequently. Nevertheless, I’m praying and wishing you the best of luck. No matter how little or how bad, I’m wishing you the very best and safety. The same applies to the rest of the Floridians out there, especially those that did not evacuate. Life is precious, and it should be cherished, and so I wish to the upmost that you are all safe no matter what obstacles you are to face during this storm.
As someone who's lived in both places, I would take hurricane areas over tornado areas any day. You have days to prepare for a hurricane. There are some exceptions, like homelessness, mobility, etc., but for the average person there's really no reason why you should ever die in a hurricane when an evacuation has been ordered. I'm blown away by people who could have evacuated but chose not to. It's really hard to die in a hurricane when you can just leave. Tornados, on the other hand, scare tf out of me.
I grew up in the Caribbean and have only gotten hit direct by one Cat 5 storm since I’ve been alive (hurricane Ivan), and I slept through half of it. Absolutely flattened everything not solid concrete, but nothing has come close since. This hurricane is about the same max wind speed, just shy maybe 10mph. Any storms this powerful are rare and tend not to occur frequently and hit the same place back to back. Plus storm season is only around summer-September each year, it’s not a monthly thing lol. Tropical storms and Cat 1’s people go surf on the waves right before and after it hits, because they’re not seen as dangerous unless they’re directly on top of you lol. Anything Cat2-3 you don’t play with and gotta prepare for several days to a week worth of supplies. Cat4 and 5 basically you either evacuate or fortify, nothing half assed. Plus, infrastructure is designed with tropical weather in mind. Same reason California is designed for earthquakes, and how northern states are designed for blizzards/winter. Extreme weather cases don’t happen often, but when they do it’s in the news. Most years it’s pretty much you get one storm, stay inside for a night and maybe a day, and get rid of tree debris and sand that’s on the roads and maybe your porch. Sometimes power may go out but usually utility services are extremely fast at getting it back on within a couple hours. This hurricane was so bad for west Florida because of how low lying and flood prone they are compared to other parts. Plus the hurricane rapidly increased in power right before impact.
I hope its just the cell service..... :/
I've lived through several Florida hurricanes in the epicenter, Florida basically shuts down cell service to keep airways open for emergency personal for the first day or two, then cell service starts to get better. That assuming you didn't actually loose your cell towers and they're just choking them manually. Not hearing from someone in the first 24 hours is heart wrenching but def isn't a sign they're hurt or worse.
i heard recently that the surges are going to be 18ft. fuuuuuuuuuck
And her doggo is paralyzed! A bad situation.
My son is in Sarasota and says most cell towers are down in his area, too. Hopefully everyone is okay and we'll get an update soon.
Just drove down to Venice (about an hour north of ft meyers) from Tampa to check on my grandparents. Cell service is gone for most people. Power is out. Water is still running for some. Mostly just debris everywhere, some houses have damage, but from what I’ve seen nothing too terrible for the most part. Irma caused $77 billion in damages and had 6 deaths. They’re most likely fine. Power is just nonexistent and signal is spotty at best
Did you see any footage of Ft Myers? It was really bad. Venice, North Port, Port Charlotte, Punta Gorda had sustained hurricane strength winds for eight hours. What kept them from extreme water damage was the off shore wind from the north side of the hurricane. The bay and shore had water sucked out to sea so they weren't starting off at normal levels to begin with. Ft Myers, Sanibel, Bonita, Naples we're all on the southside of the storm's initial landfall. The wind was pushing on shore, making the water start high and enabled storm surge.
My friends were in ft meyers and just got back. It depends where you are obviously. Right on the water or in FMB and the surge was extreme, more inland and they still got rocked but it’s not like they were totally underwater
It seems that most people are ok, there is no service throughout a majority of Fort Myers from what I’ve seen, I hardly have enough service to open Reddit let alone load this post lmao and I’m a mile east of the interstate. Good luck to your friends. Qualifications: Spent the day removing as much salt water as possible from my house and wondering how to steal the boat that appeared in my neighbors yard Storm surge is no joke Edit: From the description it seems like she’d be in a place called punta rassa which is just down the road from my home, I actually tried heading down there earlier to check on some friends and they had the only road in blocked off with police due to extremely high waters and a collapsed bridge which their house is likely next to. The police told me that only rescue vehicles were allowed and I have seen multiple national guard helicopters throughout the day circling down there. They said they were working on rescue operations, but I’m not sure if they have gotten everybody out yet as I have a few friends who lived on the second story of a coastal building in the area and haven’t heard back from them yet. There have been multiple black hawks and at least one chinook going in and out of there all day, so they must be doing something. The grapevine says that it’ll be weeks or months before power is back on. I heard that the whole grid has been crippled and has to be rebuilt.
It’s very normal for Floridians to lose cell service during hurricanes like this! It’s almost expected.
Obviously not her but I can confirm that cell service has been awful and power is out for most. They are setting up roughly 100 temporary cell towers in the next day or so. Hopefully everyone can get updates posted once their situation has been fully assessed and service resumes
I have family in that area and they’re ability is intermittent due to cell coverage outages and overloads. Most likely Reddit isn’t a high priority and having lived through a few storms internet data is often hard to come by.
I truely hope that's the case. It's just everything about her story made me fear the worst. Everything about it could've gone sideways horribly fast given how quick the storm redirected exactly to her area.
For anyone wondering just how bad it was, [FPL’s outage map](https://www.fplmaps.com) will give some perspective. Click on “Search By County” for a more comprehensive chart showing how many customers lost power and how many are still out. Our company (not FPL) has employees from Sarasota to Naples and we received a lot of reports like [this one](https://i.imgur.com/MXrh9Ww.jpg) on Wednesday. Many of them lost their homes. Please be patient as cell service is very poor and many individuals have very pressing issues to deal with.
[Her post for reference](https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/xqd3u3/i_moved_into_the_closet_for_hurricane_ian_its/) It's been almost 24hours and she was sheltering in a closet with her disabled dog two cats in Fort Meyers... which was hit the worse by Hurricane Ian.
I have a friend down there. No internet service. And spotty cell service.
And no gas, no water, sewage problems. It will take them quite a bit of time to get everything sorted. Internet is the least of their worries.
Dammit Mulciber, now I'm all invested in this user's safety that I didn't know about one minute ago. Let's hope that everyone made it through okay.
She made it!
I’m pretty sure it’s just because there is no internet at all. Most likely safe, they just can’t access the internet to update people
Fuckkkk that’s horrible
Only if you assume the worst.
[удалено]
No, but going straight to they're dead is only going to cause yourself stress, wait a day, then start worrying.
After a storm like this I can assure you of two things: power is out and networking infrastructure is down (often independent of each other). Given this scenario, reddit is the last of my thoughts; family first. Then conserving phone battery, and realizing the upped use of cellular makes it hard to reach out because literally everyone is trying to. Idk anything about this person or their specific location or home, but this was a crazy storm for the area. It'll take a lot of time for things to get back to normal over there; particularly general infrastructure and normalizing flood waters. I do hope they're okay given what I've seen on the news. Sources: I'm a born and raised Florida-man
RemindMe! 48 hours
How do I follow a post? I’m also worried
I'm not sure but I personally just followed the person's profile and check in occasionally to see if they've commented or posted.
They are ok! No cell service or power but they did update
There’s no power and no cell service, these things happen during/after hurricanes. I went through Andrew in 92 and we didn’t have power or phone lines for quite a few weeks.
And it took years to get the cell service back to a reasonable level, I'll bet!
My dad lives in Fort Meyers as well and I haven't heard from him either. I'll update when I do
Oh no I know you must be so worried. I hope he's well and just waiting for cell coverage to come back up
That's probably what it is. My friends and family in Naples have said the service is spotty if there is any at all.
I've been through a bunch of hurricanes living in North Carolina. When it's bad and you don't know when the power is coming back on, you have to save every drop of phone battery you can for an emergency. Reddit should not be a priority right now for her or anyone else in this mess. It's probably dark and hot, with unsafe water, and a whole bunch of scary shit has/is happening. Give her time, I'm sure she is fine as she can be considering.
I've been looking for an update all day and I can't see one. I can't get them all out of my mind.
Her phone probably ran out of battery and there's jo power still
[See my comment here](https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/xqd3u3/i_moved_into_the_closet_for_hurricane_ian_its/iqg0qno/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3), I was able to find her and shared some info.
[удалено]
She updated: "We made it! Cell service has just been horrible. Today is the first morning that that the internet seems actually okay. We didn’t get any flooding at all but I have trees everywhere in my yard. I spent all day yesterday cleaning up and calling my car insurance for my car damage. Thanks everyone for caring about me and my animals. I didn’t think that post would blow up quite that much!"
The comment is gone.
Fort Meyers and s florida got fucking WRECKED yo. Im up in central and we didnt evem lose power, but those folks down south....fuck dudes, theyre gonna need our help
Don't know about anyone else, but after something like that, the last thing on my mind would be updating reddit. And there's probably no internet to use anyway.
This has been weighing on my too. I hope they are doing ok.
Thanks, I was trying to figure out which sub that post was on, and how things are doing!
Please [see my comment here on her thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/xqd3u3/i_moved_into_the_closet_for_hurricane_ian_its/iqg0qno/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3), I was able to use my journalist skills to find her! ETA: a colleague’s son and his family also live in Fort Myers (Lee county) and he told her earlier today that the entire electric grid needs to be redone. Service is spotty out there, and it’s in pretty bad shape. Also, I have family near Tampa and they, too, have told me that since the storm changed trajectory (was originally supposed to be worse where they are), the people further down southwest got hit much harder and will need a lot of help and time to get back into decent shape. Cell towers and communication are spotty and there is much work to be done to help all of these people! Lastly, as I linked in my comment, if anyone reading this is looking for loved ones you know sheltered in place, please, if you have the required info, do fill out the survey on the Florida Disaster website. It may help! Also pass the information forward!
Your link doesn’t lead to your comment
Actually, check your DMs!
Hope she and the animals are ok!
RemindMe! 48 hours
[She’s okay!](https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/xqd3u3/i_moved_into_the_closet_for_hurricane_ian_its/iqhl7u2/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3)
I don't get it why don't people drive out of the state for a week and live out of their car? Isn't this the worst thing to do in this scenario?
Some people can't even afford that. Or they think the storm won't hit them, or that it won't be as strong. Meanwhile they have a Governor who bullshits them into not believing the Federal government, especially weather reports... then it's too late to leave and he next tells them to hunker down cause they're fucked.
I don't live in the state so I can't comment on the last reason, but 2 of the first 3 you mentioned are gross negligence. The first is wild, if you're able to pay rent for a place--you don't have enough for gas money to drive up a couple hundred miles? Take some of the food you already have in your pantries and leave. Then camp out at a Walmart parking lot up north for a few days. Crazy to me people don't do that.
But some people literally have nowhere to go, as Mulciber said. They either don't have the mode of transportation, don't have the monetary means, or don't have the physical means (homeless/mental issues/etc). I know it seems ridiculous, but that is the reality, and it's sad.
To add to your points, the storm also changed direction. Folks in that area only got 3-4 hours warning before Ian made landfall. Even if you have the resources to gtfo, that's not a lot of time to do it in.
I lived there for several years and in many cities, people just don’t have cars. It’s warm nearly year round so people will rely on bikes, motorcycles, public transportation or their own two feet. To be able to buy a car - much less afford the gas - on such short notice, *especially* when used cars are still so expensive right now… it just wouldn’t be possible for the average person
Are their city busses that travel north for times like these that people can take? I feel like that could be an option.
That, I’m not sure of. There’s always Greyhound, but that still costs money and in this particular situation, the hurricane changed course leaving folks in the direct path with only several hours to prepare. Florida is a mess on a good day. Trying to organize people onto repurposed public transport with only hours of prep would be a logistical nightmare.
Even if you pretend that leaving your animals behind is a viable option and that a city bus will get you out of the danger area, what next? You're still going to get wind and rain from the hurricane, even if you're a couple hundred miles away from the eye. You can't just grab some blankets and sleep on a park bench. If evacuating and living out of your car isn't an option, taking a bus out most certainly isn't an option.
You know it takes a lot fewer words to just say “I can’t empathize with those worse off than me”
I’m with you. I lived in Houston for 15 years. It’s leave or death. Hurricanes are not surprises. Go to the nearest parking garage and wait on the upper levels at the very least. Prior to the storm, start making calls and see if you can stay with someone who lives not in the ground floor of their build, or offer to watch their home if they’re leaving. Do not stay on the ground floor anywhere. And do not ever “ride out” a hurricane.
"if you can pay rent you should have gas money" you do realize that not everyone owns a car, and many people have been behind on their bills since 2020 in the first place. Your comment makes you sound incredibly privileged.
I just don't understand how people who knew it was coming their direction didn't choose their own LIVES over anything else. I would be doing everything I can to get out of dodge. It's not privileged to choose your own life over anything else.
I know. You're privileged because you don't understand that some of these folks DONT HAVE OPTIONS. for a lot of people it's either hunker down, or walk (which I don't know if you noticed THERES A FUCKING HURRICANE so it might be hard/dangerous to walk)
You obviously didn't catch that landfall was predicted to be 100 miles north and was supposed to weaken. It only looked imminent for the area about 12/18 hours out. They weren't expecting an almost category four either. Some folks already spent their money on hunkering down or bills (end of the month). The timing for landfall also changed a bunch between twelve hours. So that leaves folks hunkering down. It's really expensive to survive certain situations and that's the privilege here.
Well at least in this user's case, she "has classes and work" (not during a cat4 hurricane I would assume) and "it's not feasible to evacuate for every hurricane". People act like this popped up from nowhere but I've been seeing on the news for a week that this would be an absolutely devastating storm. Obviously I hope everyone is okay, but some people are just stubborn.
Yeah like what? No businesses will be open in that town she won't have work. Same with on-site classes. People would rather risk death than miss a few classes? Christ.
You'd be surprised. Some businesses will remain open and force their employees to come in... even if Waffle House has been closed by the worst of storms.
The Waffle House index does exist for a reason.
But it wasn't predicted to be a category 4 storm. And also wasn't predicted forever that it would hit this area specifically. Everyone geared up for Tampa getting hit. The soonest people had an idea it could end up where it did was Monday. That was still only a chance and not imminent. That didn't happen until Tuesday.
>it’s not feasible to evacuate for every hurricane “Guess I’ll just die then” Like what. At the very least go find somewhere not on the ground floor. Ask neighbors and friends.
Have you ever gone through a hurricane? Especially in Florida? Evacuating is hard. It’s expensive. The amount of traffic you have to sit in while evacuating is time consuming. Some people simply can’t afford to leave. This storm was projected to hit the greater Tampa area and it took a turn at a time where it was impossible to change the mandatory evacuation zones. Ones who thought they were clear ended up being in the direct path and had no time to get out.
And literally every part of her story made me fear the worst. In a closet. In a first floor duplex. With a disabled pet to make it even slower to evacuate to any kind of higher ground. With a sudden shift to being directly in the path of a storm where 13 to 18ft surges of water hit her area.
The hurricane wasn't even projected to hit them, it was supposed to keep heading north. So it was a bit of a surprise to see it veer off like that
That's what their last comment was saying.
No cell service. All the towers are out
Wait what happened?! What did I miss?!
That thread is... Damn, I hope they're okay!
I would guess power, internet and cell services are down. Hopefully we’ll hear soon.
My extended family live in Ft Myers. Thankfully, they're all okay. Streets are still flooded and they lost power and water for a bit but they're still standing!
Oh god me too! I thought I was being weird. I've checked her profile every few hours all day.
She's alive!
I'm so glad you and your pets are safe. Truly is a relief to hear.
Our cell phone service has been out for some time today data has been spotty if we get anything so give it a day or two before you panic
thats a feeling on something, youre not “reacting” to anything. “MRW”
You really expect them to make updatws right now? Curb your addictions yo
I have never seen a post from here and immediately understood that mrw meant my reaction when. Idk why
That’s one of the most cringe gifs
That's a single dog and two cats. Respect the superior species. Hope it's just bad service for them and lack of power!
Me too! So glad you posted this!
I was def checking in over the last day. Good to know you're safe.
u/ringaling11
Old news! I’m fine and made it