Hurricane Helene devastated Florida. Some people were lucky and didn’t have much or any damage. Others, however, were not as lucky. Homes were flooded and ruined, cars washed away, and power outages lingered for many days.

There are many things you can do to become prepared for a hurricane. For instance, you could get cases of water, flashlights, or even get sandbags to put in front of your doors. But sometimes it’s
just impossible to stop water from getting into your home no matter what you do.

Romy Pelzel, a sophomore, unfortunately had flooding in her home due to Hurricane Helene. Romy stated, “I didn’t think my house was going to flood. My dad has lived in our house for 20+ years, and it has never once gotten close to flooding.”

The weather can be so unpredictable. People can go years without their house being hit severely by major storms. One day, however, everything can change, and your house could go from a house that never got hit or damaged to being completely wrecked and destroyed by a storm. You never know what could happen during a hurricane. All you can do is try your best to be prepared. Romy also said, “To get ready for the flood, we got extra water and food. We also put flashlights and candles out for light. We also had to stack all our stuff up high to make sure it didn’t get wet. I don’t know what I would have done differently.”

Hurricanes can seem not that big of a deal until they end up affecting your own life. Romy stated, “I wasn’t feeling too scared about it, but once it was here, I was very nervous because the storm had got very bad. When our house started flooding, we put all our stuff up high, and we left quickly. When
the water started coming in, the power went out and it wasn’t safe to stay.”

There is so much devastation due to Hurricane Helene. Another student at Osceola High School was also affected by Helene.

Kailyn M., a freshman, said that her house flooded due to Helene. Some people never think their houses are going to flood or they fully believe their house will flood. Kailyn stated, “I live in a town house so there is an A building and a B building. We thought we would get 2-3 inches, not 2 or 2 ½ feet
of water.” It’s always hard to tell how much water will end up getting in. Kailyn also expressed, “We just didn’t know how high it was going to get.” It can be a very scary thing as you watch the water rise in your house not knowing how high it will get.

Another student went through the storm, but experienced things differently.

Mary Rose, a freshman, was prepared for the storm. She said, “We put shutters up on our windows. We have a pool and drained it like half an inch and picked stuff up from outside.” She added, “My fence knocked over, so my dad had to put it back up. We didn’t really have that much damage other than that.”