Pea Ridge native riding out Ian in Fort Myers
Audra Rizzio's Fort Myers home took a direct hit from Ian's eyewall
Audra Rizzio's Fort Myers home took a direct hit from Ian's eyewall
Audra Rizzio's Fort Myers home took a direct hit from Ian's eyewall
The town of Pea Ridge is more than 1,300 miles from where Hurricane Ian is making landfall over Sanibel Island / Fort Myers Florida area, but one of Pea Ridge's former residents that now calls Fort Myers home is experiencing Ian’s full wrath.
Working as an intensive care unit nurse in Florida, Audra Rizzio has seen her fair share of people in need, and that need could increase over the coming days as Hurricane Ian makes landfall with the eye forecast to most likely pass directly over her home.
“A little nervous, I would feel a little bit safer if I actually was in the hospital probably, but yeah I'm nervous, every update it kind of gets worse,” Rizzio said.
Because she works in Tampa, she says she was torn on whether or not to leave her home behind and live at the hospital for a few days, but ultimately decided to stay home and watch over her bulldog, Stella. She says every second that ticks by, the weather continues to deteriorate.
“Really over the last three hours the wind is getting a lot stronger, it’s huge gusts and it’s really loud,” Rizzio said.
When she’s not saving lives, Audra is an amateur pilot and had to scramble to find a way to hopefully keep her plane out of Ian’s path.
“I was hoping that I made the smartest decision with that, but I don’t know, I put her in a hanger at the airport she’s based at, it’s a little Cessna, but it looks like that’s gonna be part of the worst hit area, so we’ll see,” Rizzio said.
She says while putting her hurricane action plan into place, she’s noticed fewer people around her neighborhood.
“Where I'm at in my community it’s completely ghost town, nobody is outside, so the rest of it I just really see what the news is displaying with cameras all over the city,” Rizzio said.
However, being a nurse, she tells me she’ll spring into action wherever needed once the worst of the storm is over.
“I almost picture myself maybe putting on a set of scrubs and walking around the neighborhood and making sure people aren’t yelling out of things, I really hope though it doesn’t come to that,” Rizzio said.
Audra also tells 40/29 News she’s keeping in constant contact with her family here in Pea Ridge and missed the worst of Hurricane Erma in 2017 because she was in the safety of the hospital, but this time it’ll be an experience she’ll never forget.