NewsNation

Florida residents who decided to stay describe conditions

(NewsNation) — Millions of people were urged to evacuate Florida as Hurricane Ian neared. However, some people decided to brave the storm and ride it out.

Longtime Naples resident Robert Riess told NewsNation’s Ashleigh Banfield on Wednesday that he was prepared to evacuate.


“We didn’t know what was going on,” Riess told Banfield. “We went through the most devastating hurricane in the history of Florida.”

Reiss said that one of his friends witnessed a shark swimming in her front yard.

“There’s so many unbelievable stories here. I know of two incidents where sharks were swimming in the yard. They literally turned Naples into part of Naples Bay and the Gulf. Naples is devastated,” Reiss said.

Banfield also spoke with Darin Freeman, a mother of two, who decided to stay in Tampa with her family.

“As it got closer, I started to feel a lot more comfortable with us prepping. We got very lucky,” Freeman said.