Over the past few weeks Hurricane Helene and Milton have taken over the southeast region leaving lots of damage. Many non profit organizations have helped by donating supplies and sending support. The workers of these organizations are working long, hard, and stressful days.
“She worked 75 hours in the whole week because she was there working over 12 hour days trying to support people and making sure they have the resources they need,” says Ms. Baker current Braintree High math teacher. Ms. Baker has a friend who works for one of these nonprofit organizations and she got deployed to Florida to help with the recent hurricanes.
The hurricanes have taken many peoples food and water supplies, electricity, and in some cases even shelter. Many schools and works have closed and with many colleges switching to virtual classes.
“When I was home we didn’t have any classes, but due to the amount of days we missed we now have to take Saturday classes to fulfill our required class hours” University of Tampa freshman Kaylee Farell. For the people who live in Florida this hurricane has completely turned their lives upside down.
“I have family in Tampa and they suffered severe droughts, high winds, and power loss” Braintree High sophomore Kathleen Flynn. Because of this their phones were down and they had to evacuate the area.
“My cousins in Orlando couldn’t go north or south, and didn’t have time to leave the state so they stayed put,” Braintree High sophomore Rylee Chipman. Many families felt like they didn’t have anywhere else to evacuate too so they chose to stay in place.
“The hardest part about living in a hurricane state is the unpredictability of the hurricanes” University of Tampa freshman Kaylee Farell. Being a resident in a hurricane state is difficult because you don’t know when they will hit or how hard they will hit until afterwards.
Flying out of these states isn’t easy later as airlines raise their prices during hurricanes seasons. Sometimes they hit exactly where they were supposed too and other times they go completely off track, so if you buy a plane ticket and evacuate too early it could be a waste of time and money.
Many people who were local to Tampa chose to evacuate to Miami, but if you didn’t have a place to stay in Miami that wasn’t a option.
“I had no idea when I would be returning to school,” says Farrell. Due to the storms uncertainty many people didn’t know how much they should pack with them and how long they would be gone for.
“The hurricanes impacted me more than I had assumed they would” says Farell.
