Twelve years ago Mary Jo Kish was in the path of a hurricane that tore her Florida condo apart—but this time she’s fled Hurricane Matthew to Crown Point, Indiana, worrying about leaving her husband behind with friends.
Kish watched the news intently Thursday night with her grandkids.
“It’s disheartening,” she said of the news out of Melbourne Florida, where she lived for the past 16 years.
Her husband stayed behind to help neighbors and elderly Floridians who thought hurricane season was over.
“He wanted to make sure that they were aware of the severity of this,” she said.
Kish and her husband communicate via FaceTime.
“He’s evacuated already, he’s got ample water and food supply, he has all his medications—he knows how to be safe,” she said of her husband, who mentioned the water would soon be shut off during one of their video chats.
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She will stay with family in Crown Point, she says, as long as necessary.
“That’s the hardest part of a hurricane is the wait, the scariest part of a hurricane is the wind,” she said. “The wind is strong and it just doesn’t stop.”
But the wind isn’t her biggest fear.
“That’s our biggest fear, is that we’re gonna have to face all of that rebuilding again,” she said. “Which in the scheme of things, property and possessions can be replaced.”
