On the days in anticipation of October 9th, 2024, the day Hurricane Milton hit, many Florida residents were scared to lose their homes, jobs, and possibly their lives. Although reports show that the outcome of the hurricane was not as destructive as predicted, many Floridians still suffered significant losses.
“A couple people down in St Pete, their homes were, like, completely destroyed,” Florida resident Alana Bingaman said. “They live right on the coast. One of my swim coaches lives over there and had to recently move because of Milton’s impact on her house.”
The rebuilding of houses and other important buildings are one of the top priorities in the recovery effort, according to the Florida Department of Children and Families. Another priority is providing food to those who have undergone significant hardships relating to Hurricane Milton as well as providing Medicare to those who did not have the opportunity to evacuate. Schools in the area are also doing the best they can to support their students in this time of need.
“My campus made safety its number one concern.” Florida college student Avery Andersen said. “Classes were virtual, and my teachers were like, ‘It’s okay, we understand you guys are going all over the place now.’ We had two weeks off of school.”
Some believe that social media blew the potential effects of the hurricane out of proportion before it hit. There were many posts urgently demanding that people evacuate immediately. Although Anderson believes that these posts were made with good intentions, she wishes that people on the internet would not blow things out of proportion so as to not cause more panic than is already present.
“I saw a lot of stuff, like on Tiktok about how bad it was going to be, but it wasn’t actually as bad,” Anderson said. “It’s definitely scary to think about these natural disasters happening, but the best thing that you can do for yourself and your friends and your family is to stay calm and not freak out over what’s going on on the media.”
