Caymanians living in Florida have started hunkering down ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Helene, which is expected to become a major hurricane when it makes landfall on Thursday.
Jacksonville, Florida resident Shenice McField says watching Helene evolve has been “nerve-racking” and she is concerned about the storm’s intensification.
“As a Caymanian, especially someone that experienced [Hurricane] Ivan in the way that I did 20 years ago, I have learned to not underestimate any storm. No matter how big or small you think it is, just be prepared as much as possible,” she told the Cayman Compass in an interview Wednesday.
Helene is expected to be a Category 3 storm when it reaches Florida’s Big Bend region, which is expected to see the worst of the storm surge with up to 15-20 feet forecast.
The storm has been intensifying since it brushed the Cayman Islands this week on its way to Florida.
Its spiral bands have caused widespread flooding on Grand Cayman and it has dumped more than 10 inches of rain over the island.
The US National Hurricane Center in Miami said Wednesday afternoon that weakening is expected after landfall, “but Helene’s fast forward speed will allow strong, damaging winds, especially in gusts, to penetrate well inland across the southeastern United States, including over the higher terrain of the southern Appalachians”.
McField said she and her husband Marquis Walker and her stepson Isaac Walker have been getting storm ready since the start of hurricane season. With Helene on the way, she’s had to do some topping up.
However, she said she is ready.
“Thankfully, for the most part, I feel good about what we have with us right now, our supplies. I know my husband and I are not currently planning on evacuating with our son. Where we are located right now, we don’t typically get a lot of flooding,” she said.
However, McField said she is mindful of the changing track and she is hoping she will not need to evacuate.
“I’m praying that it won’t ever be that bad [as Ivan], but you really can’t tell until it happens. You can live in a hurricane-resistant home, and the same thing could happen because that’s what happened during Ivan. So, I think it’s just a matter of being prepared as best as you can,” she said.
McField said she and her family would have to go through Georgia or South Carolina, also expected to be impacted severely by rains, if they do need to leave and she is not keen on having to do that.
Evacuate, don’t wait
Spring Hill, Florida resident Rebecca Cahajla, nee DuQuesnay, who grew up in the Cayman Islands and went through the trauma of Hurricane Ivan, said she has opted to evacuate to Clermont, further inland, ahead of Helene’s arrival.
“I’m only fearful of the wind and I am fearful of the wind because of Ivan, so I am always prepared to evacuate. I don’t care if it’s 40 miles an hour or 100 miles an hour, I am always ready to evacuate. I always have a plan in place, because I know my PTSD from Ivan,” Cahajla told the Compass Wednesday via Zoom call.
She and her 15-year-old son Sebastian, a certified storm spotter with the US National Weather Service, are hunkering down with her 80-year-old mum Gail DuQuesnay, pet dog Sparky and cat Rocco at a hotel.
Her son has also set-up his weather station in the hotel room to monitor the storm.
She said even if Helene stayed 100 miles offshore, her county could experience anywhere from 70 to 90 miles per hour gusts.
“There is a very, very [strong] likelihood of life-threatening storm surge,” she said.
“Where they believe it’s going to go into the Big Bend, Tallahassee area … what I fear the most is that people are not going to understand how big she is going to intensify.”
She said she and her son have been watching models for Helene for around 10 days now and they started preparing last week.
“My county is no longer in the projected path. I still want people to understand that those [storm] warnings that were initiated are still going to happen. The heavy winds, the life-threatening storm surge, that’s a given, and that was based on if she was only a Cat 3. I fear that she will get stronger,” she added.
Getting Helene ready
Caymanian Ann Rice, who lives in St. Petersburg, said she was storm ready, having “applied all island experience”.
She said she will be hunkering down for the storm after she gets her final shopping done on Wednesday.
Her sister Jannet Lawrence, who lives in Lithia, near Tampa, has opened her home to Caymanian students who wish to ride out the storm there.
Caymanian Jamil Solomon, who lives in Orlando, may be heading into areas of impact for his job. He has been prepping for Helene with his family.
“It’s a waiting game right now,” Solomon said when he spoke with the Compass from Clermont, where he was on a job.
“After my experiences living in Cayman most of my life, I know hurricanes are very unpredictable animals. We have what we need to have as far as emergency supplies and stuff like that,” he said.
As a Caymanian, Solomon said he knows what warm waters in the Gulf and Caribbean Sea do to hurricanes.
“I had a feeling that it was going to get worse, especially seeing some of the images from just the wind and stuff in Cayman. From the brush of Cayman, I knew that it was going to get intensified once it started getting out there in that water. We went out and we bought some of the essentials that we always buy,” he said.
He said he is concerned for his relatives who live along the Florida coast. Some have already started evacuating.
“I tell them, hunker down and prepare. Prepare for the worst, hope for the best,” Solomon said.
Related Videos
