Ky. native ‘one of the lucky ones’ after Hurricane Ian causes catastrophic damage in Florida

We told you earlier this week that Jeffrey Reeves was riding out his first hurricane in the Tampa area.
Published: Sep. 30, 2022 at 3:50 PM EDT

AUBURNDALE, Fla. (WKYT) - A Mount Sterling, Ky. native is assessing the damage to his Florida home in the wake of Hurricane Ian.

We told you earlier this week that Jeffrey Reeves was riding out his first hurricane in the Tampa area.

Reeves is originally from Mount Sterling and he moved to the Sunshine State just eight months ago.

“We experienced straight line winds before, along with ice storms and snow storms, but this thing was just relentless,” Reeves said. “Once it got on top of us, it just kind of just sat there cause it was like 12 hours of 80 mph plus winds, around 18-20 inches of rain.”

Hurricane Ian caused catastrophic damage in Florida, trapping thousands in their homes.

“We got extremely lucky,” Reeves said. “A couple times sitting in the house, around one o clock I think, just my mind or imagination but it felt like the house was moving.”

Reeves said he did what he could to prepare his home for the storm.

“We had a generator. So, we just got plenty of fuel and canned goods along with hamburger and just froze some hamburger cause we just cooked on the grill and a hot plate,” Reeves said.

However, mentally, he says he wasn’t prepared for Hurricane Ian.

“I thought I was prepared for it, but I guess I was in some sense, but, on the other hand, once you see and hear the strength of Mother Nature it’s very, very wild.”

Reeves says he is one of more than 200,000 people in Polke County currently without power, but he considers himself one of the lucky ones.

“I just feel sorry for the people that lost everything. There’s several people that we know here that have families that just got their whole house destroyed by waves of water,” Reeves said.