Missouri Valley student speaks on her family in Florida dealing with Hurricane Ian

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Hurricane Ian landed Wednesday in Florida, flooding areas and bringing intense winds.

Kaity McCaskill is a student at Missouri Valley College from Palm Coast, Florida. Being more than 1,100 miles away from home, she has to rely on her cellphone to keep her in contact with her family who are about to have Hurricane Ian's eye pass over their home.

Palm Coast is located in the northeastern region of Florida. That part of the state is not taking the biggest hit from the storm, but heavy rain and wind has still present.

McCaskill's family has been stockpiling food and water, and her sister 40 minutes away from the family home has been doing the same. The McCaskill's believe by the time the eye passes over them, the hurricane will have calmed down to a Category 2-level storm.

But McCaskill still feels levels of stress at the potential of losing contact with her family.

"I think this year, especially everything I've heard, I know it's going to be pretty bad," she said. "It's stressful not to hear from them and be so far away."

She also went into detail about some resources in her town when things get bad.

"The National Guard stages at a high school nearby," she said. "They will hand out MRE's and provide assistance if fences or houses go down."

Along with the National Guard, churches and the local fire department will fill sandbags for community members to pick up to barricade their home.

"The unknown is the most worrisome," McCaskill said. "But there is nothing I can really do except be patient, wait and try to keep in touch with them.