“I took some blankets and I put some holes in them with scissors and I zip-tied them to the hospital mattress after which I took an enormous tarpaulin that had grommets and I zip-tied that over it; after which I put pillows and plastic baggage and I duct-taped them to the highest of the sideboard and I put pillows between the sideboard and the window as a result of I didn’t need him to get reduce as much as loss of life if the window blew in, after which I put a life jacket on him in order that if the water got here in he wouldn’t drown, he would float.”
After making certain her husband’s security, Smith hid beneath the kitchen desk and made a “fort with pillows and blankets.”
Hurricane Ian was in contrast to something they’d ever skilled earlier than. Smith lived via Hurricane Charley in 2004 and mentioned Ian was rather more highly effective.
“Charley was lower than an hour, the solar got here out afterwards, there was no torrential rain,” she mentioned.
Ian, then again, was “terrible and long-lasting” with the again finish of the hurricane as highly effective because the entrance finish, Smith added. She recalled listening to torrential rain however being too afraid to look via the home windows into the darkness outdoors.
“It obtained darkish in the midst of the day,” she mentioned. “It was nearly like nighttime and when the rain began it was like snow. You could not see.”
Smith remained downstairs within the kitchen, hiding in her fort and ready for the storm to move.
