Arkansans in path of Hurricane Irma

Some get out of way, others stay put

In this satellite image released by NASA/NOAA GOES Project, Hurricane Irma reaches Puerto Rico on Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2017. A decade-long lucky streak of decent weather that helped rescue one of Florida's biggest home insurers from collapse could come to a wet, violent end if predictions about Hurricane Irma prove true. (NASA/NOAA GOES Project via AP)
In this satellite image released by NASA/NOAA GOES Project, Hurricane Irma reaches Puerto Rico on Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2017. A decade-long lucky streak of decent weather that helped rescue one of Florida's biggest home insurers from collapse could come to a wet, violent end if predictions about Hurricane Irma prove true. (NASA/NOAA GOES Project via AP)

The ticket agent behind the counter at Key West International Airport on Tuesday shook his head before Scott Miller of North Little Rock could even get the question out of his mouth.

Miller, the owner of an engineering firm and a former North Little Rock School Board member, could board his preordered flight back to Little Rock, the agent told him, but his wife, Sonja, who had a ticket for today, was stuck.

As Category 5 Hurricane Irma barrels toward landfall with 185 mph winds, evacuees are clogging freeways, emptying gas pumps and grocery shelves, and filling all available airplane seats. Rental-car lots were already empty.

Irma is expected to hit the Florida coastline this weekend.

[HURRICANE TRACKER: Follow Irma’s projected path]

Key West International Airport was shutting down, the agent told Miller.

He turned and left the facility without boarding his flight. The couple had no vehicle.

"I just said, 'Whatever happens, we're going to be together,'" Miller said. "When I got home, we hugged and cried for 10 minutes straight."

Then they began a frantic search for a way off the island. The couple made Facebook pleas for ideas and prayers.

A quick answer came in the form of a beer-delivery truck that was headed to Miami. From there they could book flights back to Arkansas. The couple was packing, getting ready for the beer-truck drive, when the airlines announced new flights out of the area Wednesday.

The Millers arrived safe and sound in Little Rock on Wednesday night.

Taylor LoBue and his fiancee, Crystal Sweeney, weren't so lucky.

As of late afternoon Wednesday, the Little Rock couple was bracing for the worst as Hurricane Irma aimed for Puerto Rico where they are vacationing.

LoBue, who served in Afghanistan in the U.S. Army 82nd Airborne Infantry, said he wasn't fearful of the storm but was worried about its aftermath.

"The media has focused mainly on the continental United States with only brief mentions of the Caribbean U.S. territories," LoBue said. "Our biggest fear is the aftermath here if President [Donald] Trump doesn't send the much-needed resources here quickly enough following the storm if the impact is indeed catastrophic here."

As for when LoBue and Sweeney will make it back to Little Rock, LoBue said they're going to assess the situation after the storm and plan from that point.

Kaki Twist-Burgess, who grew up in Forrest City before moving to Boca Raton, Fla., several years ago, said she and her family -- which includes two dogs, one cat, two birds and a guinea pig -- will not evacuate. They live in a condominium constructed of concrete.

"We're really far south, too," Twist-Burgess said. "We're doing fine. I'm trying not to let it bother me. Outside, it's chaos down here. The lines for gas are unbelievable. It's like the apocalypse."

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The fear is real for former Arkansas Business designer Waynette Traub, who lives in Jacksonville, Fla.

"I'm just not sure. I'm not sure," she said. "I have The Weather Channel on and I'm waiting and watching it. It's pretty scary. It would be awful, just awful, if it's a direct hit. I don't want to be here."

Traub's daughter, Chloe Traub, is a schoolteacher, so the family, which includes her grandson Liam, cannot evacuate until the school district closes.

Odessa and Henry Hood, Traub's parents who live in Cabot, are worried.

"It's all a what-if situation. It really hurts my head," Waynette Traub said. "I watched the news for over eight hours yesterday. I finally had to turn it to the Food Network for some release."

Kara Gross, who moved to Orlando from Caraway last year, said the Arkansas tornadoes of her childhood are more terrifying than the threat of a hurricane.

She weathered Hurricane Matthew in the fall of 2016, a Category 5 storm that killed 603 people, including 47 in the United States. It was the fourth time in Walt Disney World's 45-year history that the resort was closed.

By the time it reached Orlando, it was barely a tropical storm, Gross said.

"I've been through several storms in Arkansas that were much worse," she said. "The winds just weren't as powerful here. You at least have days of warning for a storm here. For a tornado, it's 20, maybe 30 minutes warning."

Gross, a parking and merchandise employee at Disney World, said she plans to stay put for Hurricane Irma.

"Right now we're making sure we have enough nonperishables. We plan on boarding up the windows at our house pending more updates on Irma," Gross said. "We're going to ride it out, and if work closes we'll be needed there while the storm happens."




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State Desk on 09/07/2017

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