At the bottom of mainland US resides the state of Florida. The state is known for its humid weather, diverse wildlife, and frequent natural disaster storms. Within two weeks, Florida was hit with two different hurricanes.
Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region on September 24, 2024 and dissipated five days later. The storm took the lives of 230 people alone. Along with a death toll still rising 4 weeks later, the cost of damages is estimated to be $53 billion dollars. The storm was given the label of a category 4 hurricane.
Two weeks after Helene hit, came hurricane Milton. Milton arrived in Siesta Key, Florida on October 5, 2024 and ended on October 12 near the island of Bermuda just northeast of Florida. So far, there’s a death toll of 24 and the damage costs are estimated to be tens of millions of dollars. The storm was labeled as a category 5 hurricane.
Both storms received heavy coverage throughout social media. On Tiktok, videos of people who decided to stay in Florida and wait out the storm went viral, giving close insight on what it was like to be in a hurricane. Tiktok videos of people dancing whilst they experienced the worst of the storm also received popular feedback.
The words ‘Lieutenant Dan’ even went viral on Tiktok after news coverage of a man deciding to take cover from both hurricanes in his small sailboat gained attention. He gained attention for his decision to ignore government warnings on finding shelter in buildings before the storm hit the area.
Although Florida is miles away from Indiana, some of our own AHS students experienced the storms in person.
Student Gavin Davis was in Tampa when hurricane Milton hit there, he stated “I was there when Milton made landfall just on the Atlantic side of Florida In Cape Canaveral.”
“I never experienced a storm like that ever in my life.”
“The storm lasted all day the outer bands of the storm was the worst part putting out the most tornadoes warnings that no floridian has everseen it was record breaking and the most nados was along the coast where we were staying.”
“We had 90 mph winds before Milton made landfall and the eye reached the peak of cat 5 but made landfall at cat 3. There was a water spout that turned into a tornado that went between the building that we were staying in.”
“My grandparents knew about the chances of a hurricane and told none of my family but weren’t sure but we found out the night that we had arrived in Florida that it was Milton on the way to ruin my vacation for a day. But I told my mom that if she decides to go home and evacuate I said I ¨promise you I am going to stay and I will buy my own plane ticket home after the storm hits¨ and so we stayed and rode it out.”
Student Andrew Smith also experienced the horror of hurricane Milton.
“I was in central Florida so I didn’t get hit with the main impact, but when it got to us it was still a category 2 storm. The whole house was shaking, when we stepped outside the whole area was covered in palm trees and debris.”