Some Kentuckians stuck in Florida as Hurricane Ian makes landfall

FLORIDA (WKYT) - All eyes are on Hurricane Ian as it pounds Florida’s gulf coast.

It made landfall Wednesday afternoon as the storm flirted with Category 5 status. Gusty winds, heavy rain, and flooding. All are major concerns for those who stayed in Florida to ride out Ian’s wrath.

Many Kentuckians are in Florida right now, hunkered down, riding out the storm.

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We spoke with Jeffery Reeves, a Mount Sterling, Ky. man, who just moved to Florida, about what will be his first time going through a hurricane.

“Really, they told us it’s too late to leave right now, so we wouldn’t make it out of the state of Florida. So, we’ve just got a generator with someone water and a few sandbags, just trying to keep the pool level down,” Reeves said.

Reeves moved from Mount Sterling to Auburndale, Florida, which is in the Tampa area, eight months ago. This is his first hurricane experience ever. But, for others like former WKYT anchor Brittany Pelletz, who now lives in the Sarasota area, this isn’t her first storm and is partially why she left town before the hurricane arrived.

“I mean, we are definitely worried about our house and what we could be coming home to. Although, we feel that we are pretty far away from the water and whatever impact that we have will probably be much more minimal than many other people in Sarasota,” Pelletz said.

Former WKYT General Manger Chris Mossman now lives in Pinellas County, Florida, which is also the Tampa area. Mossman said he and his family were planning on leaving town before the track of the storm changed, but they are staying put now.

“Hopefully, we dodged a bullet in terms of the current storm surge projections and that’s the biggest fear for us is surge,” Mossman said.

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