GAINESVILLE, Fla. – A woman who still owns a home in Pekin but is currently in Florida, is experiencing her first hurricane as Ian barrels through.
Angie Bennett spends most of her time in Clearwater, as an employee of Allegiant Air. She considered taking a relief flight from Allegiant out of Florida, but changed her mind last minute.
“I booked myself on a relief flight, as directed by the airline,” said Bennett. “But, then, at the very last minute (Tuesday), I was like no, because I have some family here near Gainesville, which is about…almost three hours inland. I was like ‘just come here,’ because I didn’t want to leave Florida.”
Bennett says she also was forced to leave the Clearwater mobile home community she lives in.
She says her Gainesville family expects to deal with flooding and power outages, but likely will be okay.
“I think flooding will be the worst of it,” said Bennett. “We will lose power probably…It’s been raining pretty hard. I heard the wind very first thing when I woke up this morning, so I knew they were kind of strong. It’s been raining for quite a while now.”
Another thing that made her think twice: she says she works part time for a U-Haul store as well, and it saw a large influx of people coming in to fill propane tanks as they decided to stay.
She says in some respects, dealing with a hurricane is just like dealing with an Illinois tornado.
Another note: Bennett says Allegiant has been great in keeping employees up to date, as it moves planes out of Ian’s path.
