Originally from England, hurricanes are unfamiliar natural disasters for Mel Frazier, who has lived in St. Petersburg, Florida, for just over a year. “My friends and I were quite well … until we saw the news,” she said. Hurricane Ian was expected to make landfall in Florida Wednesday as an extremely dangerous Category 4 storm, bringing catastrophic storm surge, winds and flooding to the state. “The bigger it became with the graphics on the news, we realized it was super, super serious!”

With more than 2 million Floridians under orders to evacuate, Mel made a last-minute decision to walk into an American Red Cross evacuation shelter in Pinellas County on Tuesday, September 26. She was the first to enter the modern St. Petersburg College Midtown location. Within a few hours, she was joined by nearly 30 other residents seeking refuge from Hurricane Ian.

During her first few hours at the shelter, she passed the time looking at the latest news alerts on her phone and speaking with a few of the Red Cross volunteers including Sammi Conneen who traveled from Orlando to help lead the shelter team. Mel noted that checking in was “super quick and super simple” and that she was welcomed by “an extremely warm staff.”  The support didn’t stop there. In addition to hot food, drinks and snacks, volunteers provided blankets and toiletries as needed for residents.

For Mel, she says the help and comfort she and others are receiving is invaluable. “I think just to avoid any uncertainty, it’s just best to be safe than sorry,” she said.  “You can replace possessions, but you can’t replace a life.”