The past several weeks I had the chance to experience 2 major hurricanes back to back, the hurricanes were Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton. Two very intense hurricanes that Tampa hasn’t experienced for at least more than 100 years. 

Hurricane Helene was a category 4 at first then became a category 2 or 3. Tampa was hit and had major destruction and flooding. I stayed home for this one and was praying that nothing would happen to Tampa and my house. But Tampa did have lots of flooding and destruction and lots of trash and debris. My house had flooding in the backyard, driveway, streets, and garages. Good thing it didn’t get up to the house. My whole family was pretty much up all night scared that something to would happen to our house that we watched our security cameras all night and would see all the flooding happening outside our house. 

When we woke up that morning after that hurricane hit was like something you would never imagine would ever happen to a place you love and always have called home. 

Hurricane Milton definitely was a lot of prep since  everyone was told we would get a direct hit. We boarded up our house, put sand bags by the doors, and put tarps on the windows and doors too. We even moved all the furniture from outside to inside our house. Took pictures and videos of everything and even moved furniture, decorations, and everything else be put higher up onto counters or closets or into drawers. Didn’t want any of those to get wet or ruined. The day we evacuated I walked around my house many times and took everything in since I didn’t know what I would come back home to. That was definitely an overwhelming moment for me and probably lots of other people who did the same thing. 

The night of the hurricane the lights flickered at our hotel and then eventually the power went out. I woke up that night very scared and kept hearing the wind and rain. I thought that the wind would break the windows in our hotel room. Good thing it was hurricane proof. I felt bad for the other side of the hallway since they water was getting into their rooms. When it finally stopped, I got up and walked around for a couple minutes and was relieved it was finally over. The only thing we were thinking about was our house and what we may come home to. 

When we got home there was no damage thank goodness. All of that worrying was gone for a moment expect for what was lost from the first hurricane. 

Still so much trash, debris, destruction, and peoples lives in front of their houses and the streets. I feel so bad for the people that lost their houses, their memories, and so much more. Thinking about them every day. 

I’m proud to be a Tampa native and Tampa Strong!

https://www.nhl.com/lightning/community/hurricane-support-efforts

https://www.redcross.org/donate/dr/hurricanes-milton-helene.html