Florida Gulf Coast University students talk about effects of Hurricane Ian
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(ABC 6 News) – As we continue to track Hurricane Ian, we’re checking in with those who live in Florida and now have been in the path of Ian’s destruction.
ABC 6 News Reporter Mackenzie Davis’ sister, Lizzie Davis, goes to school in Ft. Myers and has had to prepare for her first experience in a hurricane with her roommates.
“It’s nothing like you’d ever expect to go through,” Davis’ roommate and student at Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) Ayva Kooistra said. “It could be weeks, it could be days, months. I don’t know.”
They have been without power since about noon on Wednesday and are unsure when it will come back on.
“It’s very scary,” Taylor Rutgers added.
As we continue to track Hurricane Ian, we're checking in with those who live in Florida and now have been in the path of Ian's destruction.
Davis, Kooistra and Rutgers, all from the midwest, have never been in a situation like this before. They spent the weekend stocking up on food, water and other necessities.
They chose to evacuate from their college apartment a few days ago and have since been staying at a family member’s home more inland where they knew they would be a lot safer.
“Places are just completely submerged and flooded so it’ll literally months until it all gets back to semi-normal,” Kooistra said.
Classes at FGCU have been canceled for the rest of the week and possibly even into next week, depending on when power is restored and the flooding goes down.
“Even when it’s like a light rain our campus gets super flooded so I can’t even imagine what it looks like right now. And if there’s no power, we can’t really do stuff at school,” Kooistra added.
Rutgers’ parents have a house just about ten minutes away from where they are sheltering and it’s almost completely flooded.
“At this point, I think our whole house is underwater, it could be up to the roof right now,” Rutgers said.
Their neighbors stayed put.
“And they’re up on their second floor and they can’t leave anymore because their cars are underwater,” she added.
The three are hopeful they can already head back to their apartment on Thursday if the roads are clear.