Former Sault resident recounts scary hurricane experience in Florida

A former Sault resident says he and his wife are safe after riding out Hurricane Ian from their house in Florida.

Dillan Rivet and his wife Monica live in Lehigh Acres, Florida, which was in the path of the Category 4 storm that made landfall on the state’s southwest coast on Wednesday.

“Me and my wife stayed home. We put plywood up on the windows to cover them and we just stayed in the house and rode it out,” said Rivet by phone on Friday. “It was really scary, the wind around us got up to 130 miles an hour.”

Rivet, who moved to Florida about 18 months ago, said he has never seen weather so destructive in all of his life.

“Nowhere near anything like that in the Sault,” he said. “The underpass floods, that’s about it.”

After the storm had passed, Rivet, his wife and their six cats were all safe.

In the aftermath, Rivet said his neighbourhood is now without power.

“We won’t have power for about a week, approximately. Maybe even two weeks, depending,” said Rivet. “It was so bad that it’s not even a matter of fixing the power grid, they need to rebuild it.”

In the meantime, they are staying with his in-laws about an hour and a half north of where they live.

Concerned family and friends have been checking in on Rivet over the past few days, but cell phone service has been spotty.

“If you know anyone in Florida, just reach out and make sure they are okay,” he said.