CENTRAL ILLINOIS, Ill. (WCIA)– A recent U of I graduate and a woman from Decatur are both stuck in Hurricane Ian.
“We traveled back to Brooksville with my sister because it’s my little girl’s 7th birthday,” said Sharon Koontz.
Koontz went to Florida for a birthday trip but got stuck in the storm.
“The unknown is very scary because it was calm before, and then we heard a loud gush,” said Koontz.
Maddy Chemers moved to Florida after graduation. She sent us a video of the view from her apartment window. She says it’s been high winds and rain. Now her apartment is full of water.
Chemers had set up a bunker in the closet with an air mattress. She’s stocked up on food, water, and wireless phone chargers.
Koontz says preparing for the hurricane was unlike anything she’d ever seen.
“It was terrible, everybody was going like crazy, all the water went into the stores and there were lines and lines of people trying to get food and stuff,” said Koontz.
Thankfully Koontz was able to get everything they needed, but her flight home to Decatur was canceled, and there’s no telling when she’ll be able to make it out.
“We probably get out until Monday or Tuesday,” said Koontz.
While she and many others stuck in the state sit and wait, she says she is just trying to stay calm.
“It’s just scary, it’s really scary,” said Koontz.
We were planning on interviewing Chemers, but she lost reception. She has been able to text friends that she is okay. She says the hurricane sounds like a bad thunderstorm.