President Joe Biden said on Tuesday there will be federal help for those affected by Hurricane Ian.
It’s a wait-and-see game in Florida as Hurricane Ian creeps toward the U.S. coast, with expectations that it will be a Category 3 storm when it makes landfall.
Florida's highways are jammed with traffic, as thousands scramble to get out of the storm’s path.
Satellite images show the massive hurricane from space, growing in power by the hour. The outer bands of Ian are already hitting Miami and pounding the city with rain, and storm drains are bursting at the seams.
Even though evacuation orders are in place for hundreds of thousands of people, some have decided to stay put, including Tampa homeowners Larry and Sandy Dewberry.
“In our experience, it’s pretty hard to predict these things real earlier on. The last time everybody left, it seemed like the storm followed them and hit them where they went. So we’re going to hunker down and wait it out,” Larry said.
For those choosing to ride out the hurricane, getting supplies is a challenge. At a Home Depot in Tampa, generators and plywood are flying off the shelves.
Native Floridians like Jenn Hoskins have been through dozens of hurricanes over the year, and her survival tips are going viral on social media, including to mimic what your neighbors are doing.
“Anybody who’s been on your street for more than five years has been through their fair share of hurricanes or tropical storms. If they panic, you can panic. If they’re evacuating, you should probably evacuate. However, if they’re just kind of holding on and they look like they’re not really too worried, that can give you a little bit more peace of mind,” Hoskins said.
Busch Gardens, Tampa’s biggest amusement park, will shut down on Wednesday, but Disney World in Orlando will remain open.
Meanwhile, the projected path of the storm has changed, and now it looks like Sarasota will take a direct hit.
President Joe Biden said Tuesday there will be federal help for those affected by Hurricane Ian.
