AMHERST, N.Y. — The west coast of Florida could get its first direct hit from a hurricane in over a hundred years. Hurricane Ian is expected to make landfall later this week and is projected to have some devastating effects.
The storm could reach Category 4 status, which means the area could see tops winds of 140 mph.
Amherst native Ray Collins is currently living right outside of Tampa and has witnessed the build up to the storm firsthand.
Collins says the problem is that while some are evacuating, he’s still seeing a lack of urgency amongst residents, even with Gov. Ron DeSantis declaring a state of emergency and weather centers stressing the potential dangers of the storm.
“This area has a bit of hurricane fatigue in a way because there's been so many near misses and false alarms,” Collins said.
“A lot of residents around here tend to take it for granted that this one will also go the other way.”
Collins also says that because of this history, from what he sees people are falling into two different schools of thought as the storm bears down.
“There’s those of us who have lived here for a while, who have a bit of hurricane fatigue, that always seems to luck out at the last second. There's other newer residents who aren't so sure, and they're the ones who are particularly nervous at this point,” Collins said.
To give Buffalo residents an idea of what it’s like down there, Collins says that preparing for a hurricane like Ian is very similar to preparing for winter storms: making sure your gas tank is full, stocking up on groceries and making sure you have plenty of water in case of an emergency.
As of Tuesday morning, the storm grew to a Category 3 hurricane, and will likely remain a major storm as it approaches the Florida coast.