FSU provides free tickets to Saturday’s game for Floridians displaced by Hurricane Ian

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) - There were sunny skies on Saturday for the Seminole’s game against Wake Forest--a sharp contrast to the storm that battered Florida’s southwest coast this past week.

FSU provided free tickets to the game for Floridians who were displaced from their homes due to Hurricane Ian.

“It was terrifying,” said FSU student Kendall Hannan, who was in Cape Coral during the storm.

Hannan and her friend, Kate Bly, went home to Cape Coral last week, thinking the hurricane wouldn’t hit their area.

“We thought it would be better there, so we packed up our clothes and stuff and went there,” Hannan said.

While there, they saw the devastation firsthand.

“The water was rising almost up to my pool level and it was like a foot away, so it would have flooded our house, but luckily we didn’t get flooded. But I know so many people’s houses that got flooded.”

Thankfully, neither of their homes were badly damaged, and both of their families are receiving help to make it through the aftermath of the hurricane.

“We have family coming down now from out of state to come help us and bringing us the supplies we need,” Bly said.

“And my neighbor has a generator, so my family’s been living off of that,” Hannan said.

Hannan and Bly were just two of several taking advantage of the free tickets FSU provided for hurricane evacuees.

“It makes me feel great as an alum, because I was gonna pay for the ticket anyway,” said Sarasota resident Aleksander Bass.

Bass lives in Sarasota, and says he was spared the worst of the effects.

“The fact that they’re sponsoring everyone that had to deal with the hardships of the storm--it’s really cool to know that I went to a university that’s that accommodating.”

Copyright 2022 WCTV. All rights reserved.