By Emily Ann Pesquera
On Sept. 28, Hurricane Ian made landfall in Fort Myers, Florida as a category four hurricane with wind gusts less than 10 mph away from being a category five. Wind gusts of 150 mph left coastal towns destroyed and some of these towns are no longer able to be identified. The storm was catastrophic, devastating, and life changing for many in the region.
The Sanibel Causeway has collapsed, leading to residents not being able to access the barrier island until the bridge is rebuilt. With access cut off to the barrier islands, all help is sent via boat access.
Ian made his final landfall in South Carolina as a category one hurricane, bringing the flooding from Fort Myers, to Orlando, Jacksonville, and the Carolinas.
The storm surge was projected at being over seven feet, bringing in at least 15 inches of rain into homes throughout the southeast Florida coastline.
The cone of uncertainty changed last minute, leaving minimum time for evacuation. A part of Lee County received just a one day notice that they had a mandatory evacuation. With some not wanting to evacuate due to the short notice, the search for survivors is getting tougher and tougher by the day. As of Thursday, Oct. 6, the death toll is 92. Rescue teams are still searching.
Living in Southwest Florida, and not expecting the direct hit originally, Makayla Lombardi, sophomore sports management major, thought evacuating back home was an ideal plan. Little did she know, Hurricane Ian would change paths.
“I was a little scared, just because I lived 10 minutes away from the nearest beach in Naples, and I was also worried about flooding and losing power,” said Lombardi. “After the hurricane hit Naples, it was crazy to see how much damage it really did to the city of Naples and a community called Naples Park and to the Naples Pier.”
Leaving behind complete devastation in Southwest Florida, Fort Myers Beach is now part of the Gulf of Mexico and Sanibel and Captiva Island are not able to be accessed.
“I feel really bad for the people who lost their homes and all those affected,” said Samantha Relkin, sophomore communications major.
Southwest Florida was the place that received the brunt of the storm, but Hurricane Ian took a direct path up Central Florida, causing historic flooding to the Orlando area, and leaving over 1.5 million without power.
“Right now if you look in Central Florida, you’re looking at potential major flooding in Orange and Seminole counties, St. Johns River all the way up potentially into Northeast Florida and Jacksonville,” said Governor Ron DeSantis on Sept. 29. “The amount of water that’s been rising and will likely continue to rise today even as the storm is passing is basically a 500-year flood event.”
Hurricane Ian was a natural disaster for the history books. This disaster caused the University of Tampa to close the campus for a week, and caused it to order mandatory evacuations the following Tuesday after the announcement. All students had to be off campus Tuesday Sept. 27, by 1 p.m. With buses to shelters leaving at 10 a.m., less than 20 students went to a local shelter.
With the majority of students evacuating campus, a lot of students did not take the hurricane as a joke, learning from previous hurricanes to not take natural disasters lightly.
“Hurricane Ian put a lot into perspective for me,” said Serafina Cinicola, junior allied health and psychology double major. “It was a reminder to value me and my loved ones’ safety, and it was also a bit eye opening to how quickly things can change. For Tampa Bay we got very lucky with how the storm path changed, and my heart goes out to those who were not as fortunate.”
