May 1 marks one month until the official start of the Atlantic Hurricane Season. But it’s also now been more than a decade since a major hurricane hit Central Florida.
“Sun is on our mind, golf is on our mind,” said a woman who identified herself only as Sharon.
Admittedly Sharon, from Ohio, didn’t live through the series of storms that left a path of destruction across the state in 2004.
“That’s what I said 10 years ago," Sharon Seiler remarked of the apparent hurricane apathy. "You say oh my goodness it’s not going to happen, so you don’t get all your water and we ran out of water and supplies and we didn’t have shutters."
Since the 2004 hurricane season thousands of new homes have been built in the Villages, and thousands of people have moved in who have no idea how to prepare for a hurricane.
“A lot of the people moving down here in Central Florida said we are so far inland the winds won’t be much. They are wrong," Community Emergency Response Team Coordinator Wayne Ward said. "The winds could be very severe, we could have a major hurricane here. You need to know how to prepare for that."
“We really haven’t had anything for the people to understand what to expect. The main thing we want to stress here is the preparedness, so they are able to sustain themselves for the 72 hours afterward,” said Villages Public Safety Lt. John Longacre.
“They have to learn when they come here about the flower pots and everything that can just fly around,” said Mandy Tomczak, who moved to the Villages from Michigan in the 1990s.
And even those who remember what it’s like living in a hurricane’s aftermath admit they had forgotten all the supplies they need.
“I’ve totally forgot about sleeping bag and pillow, I do have the first aid kit and whistles,” Linda Bosco said.