Hurricane Ian

Friday feels really far away. That’s when my colleague told us about the potential area of weather that was gearing up to become #HurricaneIan & heading to Florida. This is all new to me – hurricanes don’t form in the Mediterranean.

It’s Wednesday now & I’m in Tampa on the Gulf Coast. #HurricaneIan just made landfall as Category 4 a few hours south of here. ‘Landfall’ means it’s reached the coast, & Cat 4 is bad even though the Miami meme pages I follow on Instagram say “don’t wake us up till it hits cat 5”.

It’s only a couple of mph less than a Cat 5. And it’s clear that Floridians have this extra set of vocabulary that I’m only catching on to now. There are ‘cones of possibility’ and ‘spaghetti models’. Everyone has their favourite weather man & their fave hurricane snacks.

Starbucks closed yesterday and Publix (a supermarket) today. The skate rink nearby has boarded up their entrance. But only a few houses in the neighbourhood have put boards up. The one I’m in not included. The rule of the house is don’t panic, and the mood is euphoria marathon.

Some models in the past 5 days showed Tampa being hit directly – it’s not quite the case anymore. It’s raining loads here & the wind keeps on picking up. The more this goes on for the worse it could become, as the risk of flooding increases. The worst thing is feeling helpless.

I’m safe & comfortable. We have food, bottled water, torches, batteries, candles. Friends & family across the world checking in. We’re 8 people, 3 dogs, 1 cat. Dog cuddles remain one of the best antidotes to stress & there are many of those to go around. #HurricaneIan