Alta. family on road trip in Florida ends up with front-row seat to U.S. hurricane

A St. Albert family's months-long, escape-the-Canadian-winter road trip to Florida has them currently hunkering down as tropical storm Ian makes its way onto South Carolina.

"Just to have a family road trip vacation, take some time, see Disney World," John Shwetz told CTV News Edmonton Wednesday evening of his family's plan. "See all the attractions, and a bunch of the states we've never seen before. And some new experiences – which I guess includes a hurricane."

He spoke to CTV News Edmonton from his hotel in Kissimee outside Orlando, a roughly five-minute drive from Disney World.

When the family left Alberta at the beginning of September, they did not consider their trip would coincide with hurricane season.

The Shwetz family arrived in Orlando on Sept. 15.

A short while later, the preparation for Ian began. It was unlike anything Shwetz had seen and an entirely different experience from when tornado or wildfire warnings are issued, sometimes quite suddenly, in Alberta.

"Yesterday was super nice and sunny and we were at the pool. But it was like, 'Hey, there's this disaster that's coming but here's five days to prepare for it.' Whereas a tornado or something kind of just happens, or an earthquake or a fire," he commented.

"Everyone's getting gas and water and food and kind of stocking up."

Hurricane Ian made landfall in southwestern Florida on Wednesday. It was downgraded to a tropical storm on Thursday.

But even further inland, the Shwetz family could tell Ian was on the move toward South Carolina.

"I was in one of the west coast storms in Vancouver when it hit Stanley Park, so it was sort of a lot like that one because of the wind, but this is a lot more sustained wind and rain."

In a video posted to a Facebook page where the family is documenting their travels, Shwetz stands outside to show off the angry weather, rain quickly speckling his glasses. 

The family planned to hunker down until it passed.

"We're not too stressed about it because we're inland, but I mean, it is pretty rainy and windy out there right now. But I don't think there's any risk of storm surge or flooding where we are," Shwetz said.

"We went and got water and food and snacks and all that kind of stuff to kind of stock up."

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Kyra Markov