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A Floridian who has lived through ‘dozens of hurricanes’ has shared her best advice for preparing for Hurricane Ian as it barrels toward the Gulf Coast, prompting mandatory evacuations for more than 300,000 people in Tampa Bay.
Jenn Hoskins, 43, from Lake Monroe, took to TikTok over the weekend to post a series of videos about what new residents should know after Governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency across Florida on Saturday afternoon.
‘I know a lot of people are stressing about this whole Florida hurricane situation, so I want to offer some advice from somebody who’s been through dozens of hurricanes and [lived] in Florida for well over 20 years,’ the mother of nine said.
Jenn Hoskins, 43, from Lake Monroe, took to TikTok over the weekend to post a series of videos about what new residents should know about hurricane prep ahead of Hurricane Ian
Ian strengthened from a tropical storm to a Category 1 hurricane early Monday, and there are fears that it could reach major Category 4 status
At 5 a.m. on Monday, Hurricane Ian was moving north west at 13 mph, about 90 miles south west of Grand Cayman, and had maximum sustained winds of 75 mph
Hoskins explained that she currently lives in the Orlando area, but she has also lived in Miami and Tampa, where the hurricane is now expected to land.
Ian strengthened from a tropical storm to a Category 1 hurricane early Monday, and there are fears that it could reach major Category 4 status with sustained winds from 130 mph to 156 mph.
The hurricane is forecast to hit Florida midweek, either on Wednesday night or Thursday morning. It is expected to be the worst hurricane Tampa has seen since 1921, when 115 mph winds battered the coast city and left a trail of devastation.
Huge swathes of the area were submerged under 10 feet of water from the deadly surge, with breaking waves ripping apart buildings and killing eight people.
On Monday, DeSantis warned the impacts from the storm will be ‘far and wide’ and felt on both coasts in the form of power outages and severe flooding.
In Hoskins’ videos, she broke down key terms and offered advice for fearful residents, especially those who recently moved to Florida and aren’t sure what to do as they face their first hurricane.
Be strategic about your media consumption
Hoskins advised newcomers to turn off the news because it’s ‘gonna do nothing but scare you’ Instead, she said they should follow meteorological analyst Ryan Hall and Mike’s Weather Page
Hurricane Ian has become one of the top news stories in the nation, but Hoskins advised Floridians, especially new residents, to avoid most of the media coverage.
‘The first thing you are going to do is turn off the news and start watching Ryan Hall and Mike’s Weather Page,’ she said.
‘The news is gonna do nothing but scare you, and as somebody who’s been through hurricanes where I’ve only had the news and hurricanes where Mike’s Weather Page was our greatest source of information, I will pick Mike any day.
Mike Boylan, the creator of Mike’s Weather Page, had been blogging about weather since 2004. Last year, Governor DeSantis honored Boylan with the Tropical Meteorology Award for his site’s hurricane coverage.
‘Ryan has come on the scene within the last couple years. I would also recommend him,’ Hoskins added of the meteorological analyst and storm chaser, who has more than 613,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel.
She also advised residents to go to FloridaDisaster.org for emergency information for their respective counties.
Know when to evacuate
‘If you live in a flood zone, a trailer, or a really old home, I’d think about evacuating,’ Hoskins said. Local officials have ordered more than 300,000 people to evacuate their homes, so far
Traffic snaked back for miles on I75 from South of Wildwood in Gainsville, Florida, as residents evacuated their homes ahead of the hurricane
Local officials have ordered more than 300,000 people to evacuate their homes in parts of Hillsborough, Manatee, and Hernando counties, with more expected to follow.
Hoskins shared her thoughts on who should also consider evacuating their homes in her videos, but she stressed that it’s difficult to know how a hurricane will affect an area until it’s almost too late.
‘If you live in a flood zone, a trailer, or a really old home, I’d think about evacuating,’ she said. ‘If your home’s been built since [Hurricane] Andrew hit Florida [in 1992], there’s a very good likelihood your house is gonna be just fine.
‘The building codes were raised exponentially after that to ensure that your house was going to be significantly more hurricane resistant,’ she explained.
‘If you live on the coast and there’s a Category 5 headed your way, it’s probably your best idea to get out of dodge. Unfortunately, you’re probably not going to know that until Tuesday.
‘One thing I’ve learned after dozens of hurricanes is you never really know where it’s gonna make landfall until like 12 hours before, which really sucks because you’re already feeling the effects of the outer bands by the time you know.’
Hoskins said if you need to evacuate, you should make it a ‘hurrication’ and plan to visit an area ‘you’ve been wanting to see for awhile’ when you head north.
She recalled how she and her family weathered out the last hurricane in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
Understand hurricane terminology
The mother of nine, who has lived in Florida for 24 years, also advised residents to go to FloridaDisaster.org for emergency information for their respective counties
Governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency across Florida on Saturday. He is pictured with Kevin Guthrie, director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, during a news conference on Monday
Hurricane Ian is expected to hit Florida midweek, either late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning, and bring with it 130 mph winds
Governor DeSantis has already declared a state of emergency in Florida, and Hoskins explained what that means in layman’s terms.
‘When a state of emergency is declared, there’s an allocation of funds that are allowed to be utilized to prepare the counties,’ she said. ‘All of the different agencies in all of the infrastructure of Florida [are] going to make preparations beyond what you make in your house.
‘[Officials are] going to warn all the residents, “Hey, there’s something you should pay attention to. Start making plans if a hurricane is gonna hit and you need to evacuate.”‘
Hoskins also tackled the difference between a hurricane watch and a hurricane warning, saying these terms will be used frequently in the upcoming days.
‘A hurricane watch says, “Hey, keep an eye out. Something might be happening in your area.” Nothing is guaranteed and nothing’s written in stone,’ she explained. ‘You’re gonna see both a hurricane watch and a tropical storm watch.
‘This doesn’t mean that the hurricane has been downgraded to a tropical storm,’ she added. ‘What it means is the effects on your area are going to be much closer to what a tropical storm will be than a hurricane.’
Hoskins stressed that ‘a warning is a whole other ballgame.’
‘What the warning means is, “Hey, there’s gonna be a tropical storm or hurricane in your area soon. The likelihood of it hitting is big enough that we think you need to be prepared for it hitting.” Again, it’s still not a guarantee that it’s gonna hit your area,’ she said.
‘There have been times that we’ve been in a warning zone, and we barely got any rain. There have been other times we’ve been in the warning zone, and it hard. [Hurricane] Charlie is one that I can remember being a warning — and it was a warning.’
Don’t forget that Florida is a big state
Hoskins pointed out that residents also have to factor in their geographical location because ‘Florida is huge.’
She explained that it takes about 13 hours to drive from Pensacola, the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle, to Key West, the state’s southernmost point.
‘It’s a big state, so now you can see how big the uncertainty is,’ she said. ‘The Keys will always get it harder than Orlando would because if a storm hits Tampa as a Cat 3, it’s a Cat 1 by the time it gets to us, which is equivalent to our afternoon storms but sustained over a day or so.’
Know how to read a hurricane map
Hoskins explained how to read a hurricane tracker in layman’s terms and suggested newcomers pay close attention to how their neighbors are preparing
Hoskins used TikTok’s greenscreen feature to pull up a recent forecast track in her follow-up video, saying it took several years of her living in Florida before she fully understood how to read the hurricane maps.
‘You see how it’s a big wide cone? That’s telling you where the eye will go,’ she explained. ‘So that’s not telling you how big the storm is. That’s not telling you the impact zone. That’s telling you the variability of where the eye will go. And what these little dots are, that’s where the eye will be at those different times.
‘So if you factor in how huge a hurricane is outside of the eye, you can really get a gauge of how giant this cone of uncertainty is.’
Hoskins filmed the video in response to a TikTok user who has only lived in Orlando for a year and was admittedly ‘terrified.’
‘Look, you’re not alone. We’ve had a huge influx of Florida residents over the last two years,’ she assured the viewer. ‘All I wanna do is calm your fears and give you real data so that you don’t have to buy into the fear-based stuff. But, also, you can still be prepared.’
Pay close attention to your neighbors
Hoskins said one of the best things new residents can do is watch their neighbors who have lived in Florida for a while.
‘If your neighbors who have been there for 5 to 10 years are getting sandbags, it’s probably wise to get a few,’ she said. ‘If your neighbors who have been there for 5 to 10 years are getting Publix subs and Coronas, you’re probably gonna be alright.’
Understand how cleanup works
Hoskins stressed that cleanup safety is just as important as hurricane preparations, saying, ‘A lot of the injuries from hurricanes comes during cleanup’
Hoskins noted that any able-bodied person who can use a chainsaw or has a truck that can pull debris safely out of the way should try to help with the cleanup efforts
Hoskins stressed that cleanup safety is just as important as hurricane preparations.
‘A lot of the injuries from hurricanes comes during cleanup, whether it’s down powerlines that people don’t see [or] injuries from chainsaws while cleaning up trees,’ she said. ‘So if the storm does hit your area, the first thing you’re gonna wanna do once it passes is walk your property for any down power lines and report them immediately.
‘Next thing you wanna do is join forces with your neighbors and start getting streets cleaned up,’ she continued. ‘Though the infrastructure resources will be there to clean up eventually, it’s a lot more proficient if you’re hands-on helping.’
Hoskins said that any able-bodied person who can use a chainsaw or has a truck that can pull debris safely out of the way should try to help with the cleanup efforts.
‘Not only is it going to help people getting in and out for basic supplies, but it is also gonna make room for things like ambulances that need to get to people [and] bucket trucks that are helping to fix electricity,’ she explained.
‘But at the same time, don’t feel obligated. If you’re genuinely not able to help, don’t feel guilty, It’s okay. We rally as Floridians, and the ones who are able to help are there helping.’
Longtime Floridians need to help their new neighbors
Hoskins also filmed another video urging longtime Floridians to help their new neighbors who are scared and don’t know what to do, saying they shouldn’t make fun of them
Hoskins dedicated another video to longtime Floridians who are likely frustrated with the influx of newcomers over the last two years.
She said that locals should resist the urge to make fun of them for ‘overreacting’ and remember that they are ‘scared’ and likely unprepared for their first hurricane.
‘Hurricane prep is second nature to us. We instinctively know how to read a hurricane tracker. We know what parts of Florida are low-lying and which ones aren’t. We know that you feel your bathtub. We know to go to the gas station at 2 a.m. because that’s your best chance of going there without a line. It’s annoying, but we know we can do it,’ she explained.
‘We also know that after the storm, things open up generally quickly. We know what cleanup looks like. We know the helping hands. We know how to start a generator. We know to set our AC as low as possible 12 hours out from the storm, so our house is like an ice box if we lose power,’ she continued.
‘All of the things we already know, they don’t. We also know that a lot of those hurricane prep lists tend to be excessive and not everyone can afford everything on there. So we know when we look at it what to prioritize. Newbies don’t.’
Hoskins advised her Floridian viewers to have empathy for their new neighbors and try to help them out as much as possible ahead of Hurricane Ian.
‘Take this time to be kind to your new neighbors, just like they would be kind to you if you were going through your first Nor’easter or blizzard,’ she urged viewers.
‘Be sure you’ve swapped phone numbers, that you have a little bit of extra supplies in case somebody needs it — because, in this economy, you don’t know who’s struggling on your street — and help calm people’s fears,’ she added.
‘We can chuckle [about] our inside jokes amongst ourselves, but it’s not the time to make fun of people who genuinely don’t know and genuinely are scared. Kindness matters.’
Hoskins noted that many of these people may move back to where they came from one day, saying, ‘Let them have good things to say about Florida once they go.’