Hurricane Milton devastates Gulf Coast & central Florida 

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Path of Hurricane Milton going straight through Florida | Photo via National Weather Service

Joseph Stanziani
Staff Writer

On Oct. 9, Hurricane Milton made landfall as a category three hurricane along Florida’s Gulf Coast and central cities.

Due to the evacuation order by the college, Florida Southern students were ordered to leave campus by Oct. 8 to avoid direct impact from the hurricane. However, those students who live in the central Florida area still felt the brutal impact of Milton. 

“It knocked down three fourths of it [the house] and then it made lots of little dents in our roof,” freshman and Lake County, Florida local Julianne Jardim said. “And [it] took about all the shingles and it broke our back doors and the [outside] fence broke.”

Jardim further commented on the devastating impact it had in her county.

“It made holes in buildings, like the actual restaurant buildings, like an actual brick wall building … there was one building that I hit the baddest that basically got demolished.”

However, even after the hurricane has passed, many others are still struggling with the post recovery process.

FSC and the Lakeland area experienced major flooding with fallen trees and debris littering the streets. President Dr. Martin oversaw the college’s plan and coordinated efforts to ensure student and faculty safety during this major hurricane.

“It’s definitely challenging because we do not approach natural disasters on a daily basis,” said Martin. “With awareness that Hurricane Milton was going to be a fairly consequential event, we did take it very seriously on campus.”

Martin went on further to talk about how impressed he was with FSC management and faculty team in comparison with other institutions he has worked at.

“I have said this from day one I’m deeply impressed with the talent level at Florida Southern, and particularly with this institutional knowledge,” Martin said. He gave praise to the many faculty members, such as  Vice President of Finance Terry Davis, Director of Facilites John Camp, Head of Safety Eric Rauch and others who assisted in the process of ensuring student and faculty safety for everyone involved. 

Students who stayed on campus resided in the Brandscomb Auditorium as a shelter.

“We also had a team that included folks from advancement, from admissions, from athletics, who walked every room on campus to say: ‘Is there any damage in this room? Is there anything that will prevent it from being reoccupied?’” Martin said. “And so you’re down to essentially a couple of dozen rooms that we knew and we’re communicating with the residents there saying, ‘This has impacted your room, how do we figure this out going forward?’”

Martin also explained how these teams of faculty from varying departments came together to ensure every room was intact and ready to reopen: “I think students naturally sometimes question ‘does anyone care about this?’… ‘does anyone care about my campus?’… and my response would overall be that people are here who care more deeply than you could ever imagine and have been caring for generations of students in that way,” said Martin.

While the hurricane post-recovery process may be over for students on the Florida Southern campus, many people in different areas of central Florida are still struggling with the devastating impact of Hurricane Milton on their homes and wellbeing. 

Hurricane season offically ends Nov. 30.

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