For Meagan Storm, of Kalamazoo, seeing how some of the long-time residents of the St. Petersburg area were reacting to the threat of Hurricane Ian made the decision to leave easier. "When you see things boarded up and people who have lived there for fifty years and are maybe worried, that's when we decided to leave." Storm and her husband moved to St. Petersburg, Florida, just two months ago. It's their second time living in the Sunshine State, but the first encounter with a major hurricane.

A trip to the store Monday to shop for some provisions made it an easier decision to get out of town, Many basic items were already sold out. "We went to the grocery store and the water was pretty much gone, staples were low, and everyone was trying to make the decision." So, Meagan got online and started looking for reservations. "We figured if we were going to evacuate, we may as well go as far as we could to feel safe." She found an Airbnb north of Atlanta, and sensing that reservations were quickly disappearing due to others fleeing Ian, she booked it.

Storm says, surprisingly, traffic between St. Petersburg and Atlanta wasn't very congested on I-75, the Interstate connecting the two cities. "We left around 7 a.m. (Tuesday), which was good because everyone else I've talked to who has left, they had a more tough time getting out as the day got on." Storm noted that while there were many cars heading north to get away from the hurricane's path, there were many work trucks heading south. "Something that was really interesting was seeing all the utility trucks going the opposite direction. As we were leaving, they were all coming."

According to a Tweet Tuesday afternoon from Indiana-Michigan Power, crews and equipment from southwest Michigan were joined by crews from Indiana, traveling to Florida to assist in cleaning up any mess caused by Ian. Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center predict Ian will make landfall Wednesday night on the southwest coast of the Florida Peninsula, somewhere between St. Petersburg and Fort Myers. The hurricane is projected to move slowly across the Peninsula, not reaching Jacksonville, in the northeast corner of the state, until Friday morning. Storm says she and her husband have accomodations through Saturday. After that, they hope to be able to return home to St. Petersburg.

You can watch the entire interview below.