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Hurricanes can cause all sorts of damage. If you live in a state prone to these massive storms, you know exactly what we’re talking about…
Millions of people evacuate from their homes each year to avoid hurricanes. According to Florida’s Department of Emergency Management, 6.8 million people evacuated in the lead up to Hurricane Irma in 2018 alone!
We can learn a lot from the experiences of others. That’s why we like to share real-life stories on Priority Prepper of people who have lived through natural disasters and other emergency situations.
We have a hurricane story for you today from Morgan Mulac. She was personally affected by Hurricane Irma in 2018.
Morgan’s Story
We were on a business trip up north when we first started hearing reports of Irma. We had been through evacuations a few years prior, so I wasn’t as worried being away from home. We were also living in Orlando away from beaches, which lessened my worry of how hard we would be hit.
After arriving home, we headed to dinner at a Cracker Barrel near the airport. I remember my mother getting a call from her uncle — it’s always been a rarity for him to call, so my mom answered immediately. He told her we needed to evacuate, as the hurricane was strengthening quicker than most do.
Usually, we are given some warning with hurricanes and time to prepare. However, since we had been away, we were stuck scavenging for supplies from what was left on Walmart shelves.
I think we all felt something deep down telling us this hurricane was going to be different…
We filmed a second home video inventory, packed more mementos than the last time, and made sure to grab enough cat food to last at least a week.
In the middle of all this was my mother’s birthday. We had already booked a restaurant a few weeks prior at Disney World and we were some of the last visitors before they closed for two days. (It was one of the few times Disney had ever closed its doors.) The energy was eerie as cast members and guests alike were in the dining room. Most talked in hushed whispers about the hurricane in hopes of not ruining the atmosphere for others.
Finally, we set off to evacuate a bit north to a high-rise hotel, having limited options of where to go given the time. We were relatively confident we wouldn’t end up losing power because we were on the hospital’s power grid, thankfully. As the storm started to hit land, we decided it would be best to coop ourselves up in the tiny bathroom together until the eye had passed over us.
As we sat in the bathroom under a few hotel blankets, everything began to sink in. I couldn’t message friends and family, beyond a few updates, to save on my battery life, so my thoughts wandered. Part of me was amazed at the evacuation set up we had managed with such limited time and resources.
The next morning, after the eye of the storm had passed over, the sky was clear and sunny. However, the aftermath would take its toll over the next few months. We had booked a vacation for a few weeks after the hurricane to properly celebrate my mom’s birthday. While we were gone, we got a call from our cat sitter telling us that as she was feeding the cats, water was dripping on her head. My mom had looked it over once we got home and quickly realized that the ceiling in the room was damp and indeed dripping. She began to file a claim with our insurance company not long after.
We had expected an appraiser to come by to give us a small quote for the damages, but upon inspecting the roof, he decided that declaring our home a total loss was the best call. At that moment, a small breeze could have blown any one of us over.
The next few months were filled with getting all the paperwork filled out and salvaging what we could from the damage. A lot of files we had kept in that room had gotten destroyed, along with some minor possessions.
While everything may happen for a reason, there are things I would definitely do differently looking back on the situation. My biggest pieces of advice are to ALWAYS have an evacuation kit ready — stock up on food that you can eat if the power goes out for a few days, and if you have pets, make sure you have a week’s worth of supplies for them. Secondly, keep video logs and photo scans of all your belongings and important documents! It makes insurance claims go more smoothly.
In some ways, I’m grateful for the experience I had with Hurricane Irma. It has made me more knowledgeable on disaster planning moving forward. In its own interesting way, it has led me to things that never would have happened had things gone differently. I hope those reading my story can take some valuable things from my experience.
If you don’t have a 72-hour kit ready, please get started on it today! At the most basic level, you need food, clothing, and some survival gear stored in a pack that you can grab and go if you need to evacuate. Preparing a 72-hour kit in advance can make a difficult situation more manageable.
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