“I’ve lived here my whole life and never saw a storm like this,” a 78-year-old resident shared. Hurricanes haven’t hit Tampa directly for the past 100 years.
Hurricane Milton was predicted to hit Tampa Florida as a Category 5 hurricane.
“Hurricane Milton slammed into Florida’s Gulf Coast on Wednesday night, October 9, making landfall as a powerful Category 3 storm. The intense hurricane spawned tornadoes, dumped rain across much of the state, left millions without power.” (Google News)
This writer’s daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren decided to evacuate their home in Tampa on Tuesday morning. They are part of a group of Chofetz Chaim families who moved to Tampa two years ago to help create a frum community, school, and shul. All the other families were also leaving, and one other family was heading back to Queens.
“I didn’t want to be without power over Yom Kippur,” my daughter said.
They froze bags of water and put the freezer on the lowest temperature in preparation for power outages.
They couldn’t book a flight because of the large number of people fleeing the hurricane, so they rented a van.
It took seven hours to leave Florida when it would normally take three. There was so much traffic with everyone evacuating.
The whole highway was full of Florida license plates all the way up to New York. They tried stopping at several rest areas, but everything was so crowded, they were unable to use the facilities.
They tried to book a hotel, but again hotels were all booked. They finally found one in North Carolina.
They arrived late Wednesday night in Kew Gardens Hills. They checked the status of power in their area and discovered it was out. They asked their next-door neighbor who had stayed if they could help them with the meat in their freezer.
The neighbor climbed through a window and attached an extension cord so they would be able to get power from their generator.
The power returned on Motza’ei Yom Kippur in their area. It’s still out in many other areas.
They were fortunate that there was no damage to their rental house. Two mango trees were downed in front of their house and a gate fell down, as well.
When asked about positives that came about from this experience, my son-in-law said: more time to spend with family. Also, you see the chesed that comes out in people when there is a disaster, like the neighbors who helped with their generator.
This writer spoke to a family member of another Chofetz Chaim family of Tampa who shared that after Rosh HaShanah they got the idea that another hurricane was not far off and it was coming to Tampa. The airports shut down. School was canceled. It was predicted that the hurricane would hit on Wednesday. So, they packed up their family on Tuesday morning and started driving towards Queens. They encountered the same traffic jam, as so many people were evacuating. “We didn’t know what would be,” he said.
Many people went to Home Depot to buy plywood to protect their windows. There was a two-hour wait to buy plywood, so they opted out of doing it.
Their house sustained minimal damage in the end. One neighbor lost their whole roof. A local school also lost its roof. Tampa Torah Academy and the kollel also sustained some hurricane damage.
Twenty minutes away from their house, houses were totally submerged. A lake in the neighborhood overflowed completely.
After Yom Kippur, houses in their immediate neighborhood regained power. People shared that there was no food on the shelves as stores were unable to restock.
There were many fallen trees. One of the family members shared that a lesson learned from the hurricane is that you can’t take everything with you. Physical things don’t really mean that much. You take your family with you, and you realize Hashem is truly in control. It was a real lesson in emunah and bitachon. They had recently redone their kitchen, and they had no idea if it would remain intact. Hashem gives what He gives and takes what He takes.
Also, he shared how people in the community looked out for each other. Living out of town, the frum families stock up on kosher meat and cheese and keep them in their freezers. They had four freezers of kosher meat and cheese and a neighbor who lived 20 minutes away who didn’t lose power at all, drove to their house, boxed up their food, and brought it to their freezer.
All the Jewish chats had messages about helping each other. This same family member shared that a family from Orlando stayed in his house in Tampa for a night and then ended up getting power back first, so they headed back to Orlando.
“It was so good to see the community coming together and helping one another!” he said.
This writer also interviewed a member of a family who decided to remain in Tampa and brave the storm. When asked why they decided to stay, he shared that his wife was from Tampa and usually media hypes up the storms. He shared that they don’t live in an evacuation zone, so they weren’t so worried. The highest risk was losing power. They felt it was more comfortable to stay home instead of packing everyone up and sleeping somewhere else. They hunkered down. Hurricane Milton hit at around 9 p.m. on Wednesday night. He and his wife sat by the front window. It was like watching a horror show. Huge bolts of lightning continuously slashed the sky, and thunder exploded nonstop. Rain pounded and the sturdy oak trees swayed back and forth in a grotesque dance. There was a howling, screaming wind accompanied by the crash and bang of trees falling. A gigantic oak tree slammed down, blocking the entrance to their complex. They live near a lake and the lake has a safety fence that is five feet from the waterline. The lake overflowed and they ended up with ducks and all sorts of interesting wildlife on the lawn. There were colorful birds, ducks, and a lost turtle wandering around.
They lost power for three days. They decided to go to Orlando for Yom Kippur because they lost power for three days and fasting in the heat with no minyan just didn’t make sense. He shared that Eden Gardens in Orlando is building a new frum community and they weren’t sure they would have a full minyan for Yom Kippur. The many evacuees from Tampa helped make a packed house. It was a nice Yom Kippur with a warm community. It was also gratifying to see how everyone in our community reached out to help one another by offering their freezers, etc.
He shared that he had to take down his sukkah, which had survived the first hurricane and now it’s up again. Three families will be there for Sukkos, and some guests are flying in. The streets are fine now.
Hurricane Milton reinforced the lesson of Sukkos. Hashem is in charge. He is our only protection!
By Susie Garber
