NORTH PORT, Fla. — Before Boyd Feltman and his family bought a house in North Port, Florida, which is located east of Venice, locals told him that hurricanes really don’t come their way. North Port is on the west side of the state, about an hour north of Fort Myers. Most hurricanes are on the east side.
That was until this week.
“It’s getting worse,” Feltman said during a Zoom interview with FOX 17 on Wednesday. “That’s one of the worse blasts I’ve seen. You can tell when the bands come because it’ll be, you know, 60-70 mile-per-hour winds and all of a sudden a sideways blast hits you.”
During the interview, he showed FOX 17 what was going on outside his doorstep: rain pouring down and trees bending over due to strong winds.
Feltman, who’s from the Mount Pleasant area and currently lives in Holland, was in Florida this week prepping his family’s home for the fall and winter seasons.
“I came Thursday and then Friday, my neighbor started informing me ‘We might get a hurricane.’ People were kind of relaxed about it and I think over the last day and half — I saw the lights flickered again here — so the last day and half I think it became a lot,” Feltman said seconds before his screen froze.
He lost connection and our interview ended abruptly.
However, minutes later, we regained connection via FaceTime and continued the interview that way.
“Thank God we did get hurricane windows and glass,” Feltman said as he showed FOX 17 again the hurricane that was happening outside.
He said all the homes in the area were new and built specifically to withstand hurricanes, with cinderblock concrete and steel rebars through the walls.
Nevertheless, the hurricane had him feeling anxious. But he’s getting through it by talking to family and friends.
“You do the best you can to prepare and then you, you know, you ride it out,” Feltman said. “I’m just glad my family’s not down here too, you know. They’re safe up north.”
