MONSTER STORM UPROOTS PE EXPATS
Many face danger head-on as petrol stations run dry, roads packed with fleeing crowds
SEVERAL former Bay residents kept up the fighting spirit yesterday as one of the most powerful storms ever recorded in the Atlantic forced them to uproot their families and leave their homes in the US. For some, however, a lack of amenities in their home towns such as a shortage of fuel meant they could not travel and their best shot at safety became the local shelters.
Ex-pat Lauren Benda, 41, who went to Victoria Park High School and grew up in Broadwood in Port Elizabeth, said she and her two children were to spend last night at a shelter in St Petersburg, Florida, where she had lived since 2008.
She said her husband, Bob, a US citizen, would stay home in their boarded up walk-in wardrobe with a friend and three dogs, two of them their friend’s.
By yesterday afternoon, as Hurricane Irma reached the Florida Keys off the tip of southern Florida, lashing rains and winds knocked out power to nearly 600 000 homes and businesses.
The worst of the storm was expected to hit at midnight (6am SA time).
Speaking from St Petersburg yesterday, Benda said the winds were blowing at about 225km/h.
“I can’t even drive that fast so I can’t imagine what [damage] it is going to cause,” she said.
Asked why her family had not evacuated like thousands others, Benda said Florida had run out of fuel and they feared being stuck on the side of the road during the worst of the storm.
“The shelters here are built to withstand a hurricane. They have no windows but unfortunately the best ones are already full.”
She said while she and children Rebecca, six, and Austin, five, would spend the night at a shelter, her husband would look after the family home and pet.
They had boarded up their house, a job which proved difficult because the hardware stores had sold out of most of the materials they needed to safeguard their property.
“But I am from South Africa and ‘n boer maak ‘n plan.”
She said she had used pallets, cupboard doors and any other scraps she could find to board up the windows and rooms.
“Our main bedroom has a walk-in closet that leads to the bathroom and that has been boarded up for Bob to spend the night with a friend and three dogs.
“This is our first hurricane so we don’t really have anything to measure it by. But everything we have seen on TV so far is terrifying,” she said.
Melodie Mark, 44, a former Theodor Herzl pupil who was born in Port Elizabeth, said her family evacuated their home in Lake Worth, on the South East Coast of Florida, on Wednesday night. They are staying with a friend in New Hampshire. “Having sat through Hurricane Wilma a few years ago we made the decision to evacuate,” Mark said.
“Getting gas [petrol] for the car was a nightmare. The queue went around the block and many stations were completely out. People waited hours to get to the pump, only to be told they had run out.
“Grocery stores were like a war zone. Most had run out of water, bread and other non-perishables, with resupply uncertain.”
She said what was usually a three-hour trip to Orlando had taken them five hours due to traffic.
According to online news sites, Irma had prompted one of the largest evacuations in US history and is expected to cause billions of dollars in damage.
Forecasters also warned tornadoes could form in large portions of the state.
Gene Rudman, a former Nelson Mandela University student who lives in Orlando, Florida, said they had been lucky enough to escape the worst of the storm.
She said so far, the biggest impact had been gushing winds and power outages. “We stocked up on water and non-perishable foods in case we lose power for a lengthy period of time.”
Rudman said there was nothing for her to do now except sit back, wait and watch the news for updates.