PRINCETON, NC – Randolph native Katheleen Johnson and her husband Wayne experienced their first Hurricane this past weekend after moving south two years ago.
In an interview with WNYNewsNow Johnson recounted Hurricane Florence and what she saw at her home.
“It was bad here but not anything like what the coast is going through,” said Johnson. “Now, maybe an hour south of us, they are evacuating because of flooding.”
Johnson said she experienced a tornado while she lived in Randolph, but never a storm of this magnitude.
“We talked to our neighbors and got a feel of what might happen here,” explained Johnson. “I took everything down and put it away.”
On Thursday night Katheleen, her husband, and pets hunkered down as the storm approached. She said after the power went off, the winds kicked up.
“The winds were powerful; we had three trees come down in our yard, a lot of branches and twigs.”
Johnson said that some of the trees that remained lost almost all of their leaves due to high winds.
If the storm would have been worse at the Johnson residence, Katheleen said she was prepared to evacuate.
“We had everything packed, all of our supplies, and we were ready if we had to leave in a split second,” explained Johnson.
People in Katheleen’s neighborhood, many of whom are no strangers to Hurricanes, gave comfort to Katheleen’s family.
“She’s like, ‘Don’t be scared, it’s alright, it’s not going to hurt you,'” laughed Johnson.
