I moved to North Carolina about 3 weeks ago. Prior to that I’ve lived in Pennsylvania, Minnesota, and Michigan, so I’m used to big snow storms, but I’ve never had to prepare for a hurricane. Two days ago, Hurricane Florence was predicted to be the most powerful hurricane ever to hit the Carolinas, with a direct hit on the coast 130 miles from my home in the Raleigh area, and a direct path here.

So here I am – a person who knows nothing about hurricane preparation, learning at breakneck speed how to prepare for the possibilities of flooding, being without water or power for an extended period of time, and countless other issues. Florence isn’t just some little storm so I could ease into my learning – this was the big one and I had to learn fast.