Wading through waist-deep water in her apartment, Tyrone native and current Florida resident Kira Galbraith struggled to get her disabled father to safety as storm surge from Hurricane Ian raged through her neighborhood on September 20, 2022.

“The standing water was four and a half feet to five feet tall. By the time I exited the porch, it was already waist-deep,” said Galbraith.

Galbraith, her boyfriend, and her father lived just a mile and a half from the coast in Naples, Florida, about 30 minutes south of where the eye of Hurricane Ian made landfall. They lost most of their possessions and had to evacuate their home during the storm.

The experience was a life-changing event for Galbraith. During a recent visit to central Pennsylvania, she took time to record a podcast about what happened and how the experience changed her outlook on life (click the video link above to watch the interview).

“Our home was filled with water and had a resting level of four and a half to five feet. Along with the water in our apartment, the sewage system failed, so sewage waste went through our home,” said Galbraith.

Having grown up in central Pennsylvania, Hurricane Ian was Galbraith’s first experience with a natural disaster and, according to Galbraith, nothing could have prepared her for what she faced.

“It was go-time,” said Galbraith, “We didn’t really prepare except putting a couple of important things on the top shelves in case worst case scenario happened.”

Galbraith tried her best to remain calm while getting her father and her pets to safety when their home began to flood.

The evacuation was made even more difficult because Galbraith’s father is an amputee and uses a wheelchair to get around. Because of the rising water, he had to hop using a walker to evacuate the apartment. The only things Galbraith could manage to save were her dad’s medicine and her cat.

“There was no thought about what else I needed to get except that. It was such a weird experience to go through,” said Galbraith, “You’re just like in that survival mode so nothing else mattered.”

Fortunately, the family was able to safely get out of the flood zone and traveled east to central Florida, out of the hurricane’s path of destruction, where her boyfriend’s uncle awaited them.

“I didn’t even have a grasp on what to think about or what kind of impact it would have. [I have] never been through any kind of a disaster. I didn’t know how to think about it so all the thoughts and all the scenarios played out. But, you don’t know until it’s your reality” said Galbraith.

Now that she has had a few months to reflect, Galbraith says that she is actually thankful for the experience because it forced her to reevaluate her priorities and set her on a more fulfilling path.

“[After the hurricane] I feel like a completely different person in how I view things…I think about it like I was always like gaslighting myself running as fast as I could towards the next goal I need to accomplish, and just not being present,” said Galbraith. “I am more at peace now because of this and my perspective has shifted like 180 [degrees].”

Galbraith is currently taking classes and working towards becoming a therapist. After she earns her degree she would like to open her own practice to help children and feels that experiencing Hurricane Ian firsthand will help her in her career.

“I want to become a therapist…being able to have that experience and to learn how to utilize it to make it an everyday awareness will be helpful and I think will help a lot of people,” said Galbraith. “That’s what I want to do, create a safe environment.”

It will take a long time for Galbraith and her family to get back to normal, but with the help of friends, relatives, and complete strangers, she recently moved into a new apartment and she and here family are moving forward and rebuilding their lives.

“I am excited for the person I am becoming because of living through such an intense aspect,” said Galbraith.