Once again, the Tampa Bay area was spared a direct hit by a hurricane. I don’t know how we keep getting so lucky, but seeing the images coming out of Naples, Bonita Springs, and Ft Myers (areas that were hit hard by Hurricane Ian), I know we dodged a big bullet. It was a catastrophic hurricane for that area, and I think it would have been even worse for the Tampa Bay area, especially my little peninsula of Pinellas County. We are the most densely populated county in Florida, and we surely don’t have the infrastructure to handle a hurricane as large and as intense as Ian.

The Weekend: Preparing for Hurricane Ian

On Friday, I started hearing rumblings that a tropical depression was developing and could be headed for the area. Of course, it’s always hard to predict the track of a tropical storm/hurricane and at this time, all we knew was that the tropical depression would strengthen into a hurricane while in the Gulf of Mexico and hit Cuba around Monday or Tuesday. From there, it was anyone’s guess as to what part of Florida would get hit.

I decided to start making preparations. I picked up an extra cat carrier just in case I needed to evacuate. I stocked up on hurricane snacks at the grocery store. I topped off my gas tank. I bought an extra set of flashlights and bungee cords so that I could tie my patio furniture to my balcony railing if needed. And, of course, I followed the Facebook feed of my fave meteorologist Denis Phillips, who is always so calm and informative during these storms. He provides near-hourly updates on the projected path and what people should be doing to prepare, and does it in a way that doesn’t give me anxiety. (A true feat!)

Monday: Making the Decision to Evacuate

Things started to seem particularly dire on Monday, as Hurricane Ian’s projected path was right over the Tampa Bay area. (I live on the little peninsula right next to Tampa, so I’m surrounded by water on three sides, and the storm surge that was predicted was terrifying.) I didn’t get much work done on Monday, as I just kept refreshing Denis Phillips’ Facebook feed, looking up hotels in Orlando that accepted pets, and calling my mom to figure out what to do. We both live in Zone A, which is the first evacuation zone, but for most of the day, she was set on riding out the storm at home. I was trying to decide if I should evacuate alone or stay with her. Her home is a few miles inland than mine. (And, of course, the cats would be with me!)

Soon, though, the county called for a mandatory evacuation for everyone in zones A-C and once my mom’s neighbors started boarding up their windows and leaving town, she decided that evacuating was the right call. I was so, so relieved! We found an Airbnb in Fort Lauderdale, which wasn’t anywhere near the storm’s path, and reserved it for Tuesday through Friday.

And then it was time to do laundry, start packing, and start preparing my apartment for the potential of a category 3 hurricane. I didn’t have to do too much to prepare since I live in a third-floor apartment. I wouldn’t need to worry about flooding, but I would need to worry about a tree crashing onto the roof or through a window and bringing wind and water with it. Since my desk is right near a big window, I removed all of my monitors and my docking station and put them in my walk-in closet. I removed everything from my balcony. I put blankets over my TV. I made sure everything was put away in cabinets and closets.

Tuesday: Evacuating to Fort Lauderdale

We left around 12:30pm on Tuesday, my Kia Soul packed up with three adults, two dogs, two cats, and all of our belongings. The girls were in cat carriers, of course, but Chip and Lucy weren’t in kennels. They generally do pretty well on car rides, thankfully. Lucy spent the first 20 minutes or so growling and barking at Lila in her carrier, and Lila would hiss and swipe at her if Lucy got too close. Those two are not destined to be friends! Lucy eventually settled down and the ride to Ft. Lauderdale was fairly uneventful.

It rained the entire way there and we ran into major traffic about 100 miles outside of Ft. Lauderdale. It ended up taking us about 5.5 hours to get to Ft Lauderdale, which is about an hour and a half longer than usual.

I was so happy to arrive at the Airbnb! We quickly unpacked the car and I got the girls settled in one of the rooms. I planned on keeping them closed up in the room the entire time and they had a disposable litter box, food, water, and lots of toys. Immediately after opening their carriers, the girls scuttled under one of the nightstands in the room.

I left the room at one point and settled on the couch with my mom and stepdad. We decided to order pizza since it was rainy outside and none of us felt like leaving the Airbnb to hit up the grocery store. It had been about an hour or so since I checked on the girls, so I went into the room to make sure they were okay.

And I couldn’t find Ellie. (Spoiler alert before I begin this story: Ellie was never actually lost!)

I looked under the nightstand where she had hidden earlier, but all I saw was Lila. I looked everywhere in the room. Under the other nightstand, in the closet, in drawers, in my luggage. She wasn’t anywhere to be found. Of course, I know by now that cats are champion hiders, especially when they’re in a new place. So I was trying to console myself with the fact that she was probably just hidden VERY GOOD in the room. But I also knew I wouldn’t be okay until I could see her big green eyes and know she was safe.

We tore apart the Airbnb looking for Ellie. We looked in every room, we double-checked closets, we even pulled up the mattress in my room to make sure she wasn’t hidden under there. We couldn’t find her anywhere. I was freaking out at this point, in a panic. And that’s when I noticed that the bottom edge of the door to the room had a few inches of space. I was convinced that she had somehow slithered underneath the door, escaped from the house, and was outside in the pouring rain, wet and scared. You guys. I couldn’t handle the image of her outside. I turned on my phone’s flashlight and ventured out into the rain to look for her. I checked all of the bushes and trees around the Airbnb and down the road. I called her name. All I wanted was to hear her sweet little meow. I couldn’t imagine never, ever hearing that meow again.

I became completely numb. I couldn’t eat, couldn’t think, couldn’t do anything but imagine the worse and feel like the worst cat mother in the world. I kept thinking about leaving this Airbnb without her and I wanted to die. It was the most awful feeling. I texted my book club girls and Kim to tell them the news, and they were so loving and supportive, telling me that she was probably just in an excellent hiding place.

After over two hours of looking for her, I decided to go to bed. Maybe she would appear in the morning? My mom prayed for her safe return with me, and while I don’t know if I believe in the power of prayer, it was so comforting and exactly what I needed at that moment. I laid down on my bed and was just scrolling through my phone when, what do you know?, a little black-and-white cat with big green eyes comes prowling up to the bed. She was in the room the entire time. SHE NEVER LEFT.

We still don’t exactly know where she was hiding, but we think she may have been hidden behind Lila under the nightstand. That’s the only explanation we can think of. And yes, sweet Lila can hide an entire adult cat with her body. We don’t fat-shame around here, BUT OMG LILA YOU COULD HAVE SAID SOMETHING. Maybe they were playing a mean trick on me after I made them sit in cat carriers for nearly 6 hours and get barked at by a tiny dog.

In any event, I snatched up Ellie and hugged her so close. I cried. I was so relieved to see her. I can’t imagine losing this girl. She is a part of my soul and my favorite little friend.

Wednesday/Thursday: Livin’ It Up in Ft Lauderdale

There isn’t much to report from our time in Ft. Lauderdale. I am very grateful that I wasn’t expected to be glued to my work computer both days. I tried to get in a few hours of work each day, but I definitely let myself take the afternoons off. It was very hard to focus on work. All I wanted to do was track the hurricane and check in with my friends. Plus, Chip and Lucy are so cute and I just wanted to cuddle on the couch with them!

We had pretty good weather in Ft. Lauderdale, too. After such a rainy Tuesday, I figured we’d get lots of rain and wind throughout the week, but there wasn’t much to report. It didn’t rain at all the rest of the time we were there. We just got mild wind (>20 mph) and overcast skies. It was hard to believe what was happening just 100 miles from us when the weather was so normal there.

(During our search for Ellie on Tuesday night, we moved the bed forward to check behind it, and it turned out to be a lovely hiding place for the girls! I kept the bed in this position until we left.)

Friday: Back Home

We packed up the Airbnb, got the cats back in their carriers, and started the trek back home on Friday morning. I had gotten an alert from my power company on Thursday evening that my power may have gone out at my apartment, but I was crossing my fingers and toes that I was one of the lucky ones that never lost power.

The drive back to St. Petersburg was easy. We took I-75 down, which had us passing through Venice, Fort Myers, Sarasota, and Naples (cities that had gotten pummeled by the hurricane). At first, I was reluctant to take this path since I wasn’t sure if the interstate would be open. But we decided to risk it since all other routes would tack an extra 1-2 hours to our drive. Thankfully, we made the right choice! There were some minor traffic jams here and there, and one exit was completely shut down since the street on the exit was flooded. But for the most part, it was smooth sailing.

My mom’s house sustained a tiny bit of damage, namely part of their fence falling down in their backyard. Now, their looking into new furniture such as this backyard furniture in CA. My apartment was fine, and we both never lost power in either of our homes, which was thrilling.

Final Thoughts

There have been two prevailing emotions for me over the past week: guilt and relief.

I have had this strong feeling of guilt about “forcing” my mom to evacuate and spend money on an Airbnb, when we could have stayed put and we would have been fine. The storm’s projected path changed on Tuesday morning, right around the time we were leaving town, and suddenly, I felt so silly for hatching this plan. It became more and more apparent on Tuesday that the Tampa Bay area was going to get very lucky once again and not sustain a direct hit, which meant we evacuated “for nothing.” (At least, that’s the story my brain kept telling me.) I know we made the right decision. I know it is always better to err on the side of extreme caution, especially when it comes to hurricanes and living in a flood zone. I know that, had I stayed and had the hurricane switched courses once again to hit the Tampa Bay area, I would have been in a bad, bad situation. But still… there is the guilt to contend with, especially considering that this Airbnb was not cheap and included a $200 pet fee. ($50 per pet, ugh.)

The other strong emotion I feel is relief. We got so, so lucky. Seeing the pictures of what this hurricane did to cities like Sanibel Island and Ft Myers is horrifying. Entire blocks of businesses and homes destroyed. Highways decimated. Millions of dollars of damage. Every time I drove around St. Petersburg this weekend, I felt this overwhelming gratitude. We are still standing. We are not the city on the news. We may have debris littering the street, downed trees and fences, and signs ripped apart… but man, that can happen during a typical summer thunderstorm here. We haven’t had a direct hit by a hurricane since 1921 and I hope it stays that way for a long, long time.