THUNDER BAY - Some Thunder Bay residents will hunker down in central Florida hotels when the most powerful Atlantic hurricane ever recorded storms through the state.
Andrea Jacobsen and Shannon Burkinshaw are vacationing in the Orlando area where they arrived around the beginning of the month, and they don't plan to drive home until Monday.
Hurricane Irma is projected to make landfall in south Florida sometime Sunday morning.
The National Hurricane Center has warned that regardless of its precise track through the state, hurricane-force winds could blast most if not all of the Florida peninsula.
In a phone interview with Tbnewswatch.com from a Disney resort on Friday, Jacobsen said she and her wife have stocked up on things like water, granola bars and other non-perishables as a precaution.
On Disney properties, however, she said "there's not really a panic, there's not a commotion. A lot of people from coastal areas actually evacuate to Disney because of it being central and very much organized and ready for situations like this."
She said that inland from the coast, it feels much safer because there's no worry about storm surges or flooding, on the whole.
"Disney actually has a response team for potential disasters. If the need arises, they have shelters specifically built for hurricanes."
Jacobsen said Disney staff are doing a good job communicating with clients about the situation, and are being very supportive.
Because the hurricane's arrival will close the Orlando airport Saturday evening, she said, friends of the couple had their flight home bumped up 30 hours—to Friday morning—by their airline, and Disney promptly refunded what they had paid for their room and their passes for the cancelled day.
"It's good to know there's an awareness but there's no panic here. You feel supported."
But Jacobsen admits to feeling some trepidation.
"Watching the devastation down south of us in the Caribbean has been kind of crazy, and seeing what's going to happen, where is this path gonna go, is definitely a little anxiety-causing."
She and her partner had considered leaving early, but decided it would be unhelpful to put one more car on the road heading north, hampering people who do need to evacuate.
"We're in a place where Floridians come when there's bad weather...We feel safe here (but) definitely on edge."
Jacobsen said the couple is trying to look at the hurricane as an extra, albeit unexpected, experience on their vacation, and are hoping that they and their vehicle come through it okay.
