Morgan Bridges – Class of 2018

TAHS Class of 2018 graduate Morgan Bridges was lucky enough to not experience any damage to her family’s house and vehicles from Hurricane Ian’s hit, but being in the hurricane’s path was still a scary experience for this native Pennsylvanian. 

Bridges is currently a student at the University of South Florida and lives in Lakeland, FL. 

Watching the forecast as the hurricane zeroed in on central Florida was very stressful for Bridges.

“The anxiety skyrocketed on Wednesday morning when Ian made landfall on the coast. It was so scary to see what was going on just two hours away from us. It was even scarier to look at the TV and see the red part of the hurricane projected to be over my house just a couple of hours later,” said Bridges. 

Fortunately, the hurricane’s path took a late turn and Bridges did not experience any major damage or loss of power, but her neighbors just down the road were not so lucky. 

“Some people were without power for over five days, some without water,” said Bridges. 

Bridges, a pre-law student, also works at the county’s courthouse and the hurricane forced the courts to close down for a few days. Everything was postponed and the staff was still catching up on resetting all court hearings nearly weeks after Ian passed. 

Bridges’ college classes were canceled in anticipation of the hurricane. 

“When we got the news that Ian was expected to be a direct hit, I was shocked. Immediately, every grocery store ran out of cases of water. Four days before the hurricane hit, [most] gas stations were already out of gas. I had to scramble to find one that still had gas,” said Bridges. 

As the hurricane hit on Wednesday morning, Bridges explained how the weather outside grew as the storm began to hit the coast of Florida. 

“Wednesday morning began with a breeze outside. The wind got stronger as the day went on, and the rain came with it mid-afternoon. In the evening, the weather sounded horrible. Random bursts of rain slammed into the side of the house,” said Bridges. 

Although Bridges put sandbags against her front door, some water still leaked into her house.  

“Around midnight, we noticed that water was leaking in through a small crack under the front door, despite the line of sandbags right outside. Fortunately, it was only enough to make a small puddle. We kept mopping it up throughout the night,” said Bridges. 

Even two weeks after Hurricane Ian, gas stations were still out of gas, and Bridges and her family were still not able to find some basic groceries and supplies.