After the chain of storms in the Southeast this fall, University of Mississippi students from Florida, which saw some of the worst of both Hurricane Helene and Milton, continue to worry from a distance about the destruction and distress in their hometowns.
“Once you don’t hear from your family for a certain amount of time, you realize that they have lost power,” McCall Jewett, a junior journalism major from Tampa, Fla., said. “But once it surpasses a couple of days, the only thing you can do is panic. I was completely unaware if my family was okay and if my house was okay. I didn’t know if I was going to have a house to go home to for the holidays.”
Helene made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region on Sept. 26 as a Category 4 hurricane, destroying communities and homes as it moved up the East Coast. Just under two weeks later, Milton blew into Siesta Key, Fla., as a Category 3 hurricane on Oct. 9.
“I was completely overwhelmed and sad for my city,” Jewett said. “It was extremely hard to go to class and do my schoolwork worrying about the damage that was happening back home and knowing my family was possibly in danger.”
Jewett said that supplies were limited and many people were left unprepared and unable to evacuate, including her family.
“Like every hurricane, the stores are out of water, canned food and things that families need to survive during these storms.”
Jewett traveled to Tampa to a flooded house hoping to help her family recover from the damage. However, soon after she got home, she had to quickly return to Oxford after hearing the news of Milton. Because of their work, her parents were unable to evacuate.
“The only word to describe the feeling I had when I heard there was a second hurricane is terrified,” Jewett said. “Knowing that my parents couldn’t evacuate yet again because of their jobs was extremely difficult.”
Seeing what happened as a result of Helene, Jewett was even more worried about what Milton was capable of doing.
“After we heard how bad Milton was supposed to be, I genuinely thought I was never going to see my family again. But thankfully, for my family, everyone is okay and safe,” Jewett said. “There is still a long way to go when it comes to repairs and damage to our house and city, which still worries me.”
Aidan Darr, Jewett’s boyfriend and a junior real estate major from Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., said that it was hard for him to focus on school during the hurricanes.
“Keeping contact with my family and staying up to date with the hurricane was definitely a distraction,” Darr said. “It was really all I could think about for a few days.”
Darr explained that Helene did not cause as much structural damage to his family’s home, but Milton almost flooded their entire house. He also said there were a few hours during which he could not contact his family due to outages caused by trees falling on power lines in his neighborhood.
“I was trying to stay near my phone as much as I could in case I heard something from my parents at home or friends in Tallahassee to make sure everything was okay,” Darr said.
Sarah Johnson, a junior journalism major, faced similar worries for her family in Fort Myers, Fla.
“I would rather have been in the hurricane with my mom knowing what was going to happen than being so far away and clueless to what was going on,” Johnson said.
Johnson’s mom did not evacuate for Milton but instead installed storm shutters and prepared their house for the worst — a decision Johnson said made her anxious.
“Her decision to stay was definitely not okay with me,” Johnson said. “It was scary enough that she was staying there and even more terrifying not being there with her.”
Johnson was able to stay in contact with her mom through a few different methods. With the new iPhone iOS18 update, users are able to send messages via satellite whenever there is no signal — something Johnson’s mom took advantage of. Also, in the event that would not work, Johnson’s mom would alter her voicemail every few hours with updates so that anyone who called could know what was happening.
Milton was supposed to hit Johnson’s hometown the night of Thursday, Oct. 10. Fortunately for her family, the storm hit during the day, allowing her to be in communication with her mom the entire time.
“When I was not in class, I was on the phone with my mom,” Johnson said. “And actually when I was in class, I was texting her constantly. I know it was a distraction from school, but keeping in contact with her was more important at the moment.”
