Hurricane Ian

Several women from Winco were in Indiana last week for work.  They told Doug that there was a hurricane predicted during his next trip to Ocala and that he might want to reschedule.  They were worried about the lack of power and internet services that usually came along with a storm of that magnitude.  Doug asked me what I thought as I had been following the storm.  I knew that Ocala was not in the path of the storm but could get up to two feet of rain from it.  He was flying out on Saturday after Cameron's Wabash tourney, so he had to decide well before it made landfall.  That made Doug's decision even more difficult.  

In the end Doug decided to go ahead with his original plan.  He arrived on Saturday night without any issues.  Sunday he worked and then enjoyed hanging out at Infinite Ale for the evening.  By Monday morning we realized that the predicted hurricane was definitely going to make landfall in Florida although meteorologists were still unsure of where it would hit.  The most likely spot was Tampa Bay which was less than 100 miles away from Ocala.  I strongly encouraged him to fill up with gas as they were starting to evacuate Tampa Bay residents with most coming straight up I-75.  Thus, there were already long lines and shortages south of Doug.   We did discuss having him move his Wednesday morning trip home to Tuesday, but there weren't a lot of flights available.  Instead Doug decided to move that flight to Friday afternoon and buy supplies and keep his portable charger full to ride out the storm.  

Thankfully, all of our planning worked out well for Doug.  He had a safe place to weather the hurricane, had plenty to eat and drink and even made it through without losing power or internet.  The storm shifted south and actually hit Fort Myers Beach instead.  That in turn moved the rain predicted for Ocala to Orlando.  Although it was fortunate for Doug and those living in Marion County, the change in path made for some horrible destruction in Fort Myers Beach with widespread homes and property destroyed as well as close to 100 casualties.  Those who evacuated from Tampa to Orlando were met with parking lots underwater, cars flooded and trees uprooted.  The Orlando Airport was closed from Wednesday morning until noon on Friday.  Thus, we felt extremely fortunate that Doug was able to fly out on Friday afternoon.  He had only been gone a week, but it sure felt longer when he walked in the house tonight.