Warm and dry weather can be found in sunny California, but moving 2,500 miles to the east, one will see wind speeds up to 140 miles per hour with flooding, storm surges, and rip currents going through the East Coast.  In the Carolinas in particular everyone is raiding their local supermarket as they prepare for the worst by buying non-perishable foods, bread, water, power banks, generators and flashlights. Additionally, many are ensuring that their cars are filled with gas, they have a backup plan to go somewhere for shelter with cash on hand, and that they have their windows boarded up in case one break during the storm. In the East Coast people treat these storms with heavy caution and seriousness.

To further my research, I spoke with a good friend that just moved to South Carolina. She explained to me that her and her family weren’t as prepared as they would want to, “when we got to target” she explained “there was only about one case of water left, a few bags of bread, one flashlight, and all of the batteries and generators were gone, luckily the stores try to restock as quickly as possible”. Even though the stores attempt to replenish, it is hard to keep them in stock. She was telling me that it was really stressful trying to make ensure that her and her family had everything. She added that “When it got closer to when it was supposed to hit (September 9,2018) school got shut down and that was when were starting to take precautions.” As she just moved there, she didn’t know what to anticipate.

Moving to North Carolina, I spoke with a family that has lived there for most of their lives, about what they are expecting. One family member stated, “yes, it is one of the bigger ones, but we are not as worried”,  and that “as long as we are prepared and have a plan we will be safe and fine”.