Martha Shaw was ready. As forecasters in September 2022 warned of a storm bearing down on Florida’s Gulf Coast, she grabbed a blanket and her cane, stuffed a suitcase with clothes and loaded a kennel for her toy poodle, Andre, into her silver SUV. Shaw, who had just turned 84, had been through this before. Hurricane Charley in 2004 had damaged the roof and siding on her mobile home in Fort Myers. But inside, everything had stayed dry.
This time, Shaw planned to drive inland to a rest stop on Interstate 75, sleep in her car and return the following morning. But as warnings about Hurricane Ian grew more dire, she realized her plan was unsafe. In the pelting rain, she drove instead to an emergency shelter lined with cots and watched out a window as the Category 4 monster raged.