CLEVELAND — There are a lot of people who are feeling the impact of Hurricane Ian who have ties to Northeast Ohio; whether it’s through owning property in the sunshine state, or living there.
Sholar Petit is from Akron and moved to Fort Myers three years ago. She has never experienced a hurricane before.
“Just the big thing is just the high winds right now, probably like 80 to 100 mph winds,” she said. “The sound is intense. It’s really scary.”
She lives with her boyfriend, Brett Mueller, on the first floor of an apartment complex.
“They tell us to get to the bottom floor because of the winds, but then, there’s a storm surge in some areas, so then you worry about flooding, too, so really you’re not safe anywhere,” said Petit.
The two didn’t evacuate because they are situated a bit more inland, but Petit also works at a hospital and needed to be close to work, in the case of an emergency.
“We didn’t evacuate because it’s not a huge risk for us but that being said, you know, tomorrow we have no idea of if we will be able to get out of here, able to drive a car on the road,” said Mueller.
They lost power early Wednesday and are waiting out the storm.
“We stocked up on food a few days ago before we heard it was coming, and we have water. We filled up our bathtubs. We are conserving our phone power and have charger packs,” Petit said.
Dave Dufala is also waiting out the storm but from the comfort of his home in Medina.
He is glued to the television and his home surveillance cameras, to see how his property in Estero, right between Fort Myers and Naples, is holding up.
“The power went out about 11:30, 12:00, and I tried to call up my next-door neighbors, I tried to call friends in the next development, and no answer,’ he said. “I’m in the dark until the cell towers come back on again but I know we have no power.”
Dufala said his house went through Hurricane Irma unscathed, and he is hopeful for the same outcome with Ian.
“I have flood insurance and I have homeowner’s insurance and we are 17 feet above sea level,” he said. “But we are safe and sound and houses can be rebuilt if they have to be.”
A little north of Dufala’s home in Estero, Tampa officials are warning that the next 24 hours will be the most dangerous.
Ryan Salapa is a Cleveland native who lives in Tampa, he said his home isn’t in the flood zone at the moment.
“From C to B to A in the flood zones, in the danger zones, I mean it’s a matter of two streets because it’s all on elevation, so like we could go outside of our neighborhood and be in a flood zone,” he said.
Peach Johnson and Kyle Salapa moved to Tampa from Cleveland just three months ago. They’re hunkering down at Kyle’s older brother Ryan’s house.
“We didn’t really know too much to expect other than what we’ve been told, but we’re gearing up for it,” said Johnson.
Johnson works at an elementary school closer to the water and is worried about her students.
“I'm sure a lot of the families of my school are being affected a lot more than we are right now, so that definitely weighs heavy on my heart because I want to make sure the kids and the families are safe,” she said.
Older brother Ryan’s best advice for the couple in the coming days and weeks: expect the unexpected.
“The storm surge could be, you know, up to 48 hours after something like this hits. It’s really like, you have to stay in to protect yourself because you don’t want to be a moving target,” he said.
