Hurricane Idalia survivor urges coastal residents to take evacuation orders seriously

Last summer, Hurricane Idalia battered Florida's Gulf Coast with heavy winds and rain before making landfall in Florida Big Bend region. Hurricane Helene is currently charting a similar course.

During Idalia, the primary concern was deadly storm surge. On average, 5 feet of storm surge flooded around 6,000 homes in coastal areas of Pasco County. At least 80 rescue missions were completed, according to emergency personnel.

Read more: 'The water was up to our thighs': Idalia's storm surge stuns Pasco residents

Among them was Lacie Snyder and her family.

She spoke with WUSF's Gabriella Paul, urging residents to learn from her mistakes and take evacuation mandates seriously.

Once again, as Helene nears, mandatory evacuations are in place for Pasco County residents in Zone A, as of Wednesday at 9 a.m. That includes people living in manufactured and mobile homes, an RV or any low-lying area that is prone to flooding. Voluntary evacuations are in places for Zones B and C.

Lacie, last time we talked you and your family had actually just been rescued from flooded waters while evacuating Hurricane Idalia. Can you bring us back to that moment around this time last year? I mean, what do you remember about that moment?

I remember that was one of the worst days I have ever experienced in my entire life. When we woke up, we had realized that water had started coming into our house. The water was literally coming up our double-glass doors that led out to our back canal. It was at that point when I realized it was probably about 7 inches up the wall and I was in shock.

Wow. And we know now that you were one of about 80 rescue missions that morning from Pasco County Emergency personnel.

We met in the parking lot that was that staging ground for the rescue missions. And I remember you telling me that you'd woken up to that ankle-high water, and then by the time you were walking out of the house with your family, and I think you had a few dogs with you, I mean, it was already thigh-high. So what can you tell me about just how fast this water rises when it starts coming?

I mean, it was a blink of an eye. We had bags ready to go, just in case we had to leave. And it was long enough for me to put my three dogs in my vehicle, my husband, myself. I made sure my mom and my grandfather got into their vehicle.

It was long enough to load up five people, three bags and three dogs for the water to go from being at my ankle to almost at my hip. Less than 20 minutes is how quick that water came up.

And so you didn't have emergency personnel come to your house. You actually were rescued from your your truck that had stalled. What was that like?

Scary. Not knowing what was going to happen. It wasn't like the vehicle stalled when we were trying to get out. It was the vehicle stalled, and we were sitting there waiting, wondering if we were going to be able to be rescued.

Why didn't you and your family evacuate earlier? I mean, what information did you have after Idalia had passed and storm surge was expected to come in?

I've lived in Florida all my life. I've gone through many, many hurricanes and warnings. You know, storm surges and ... honestly, you think, 'Oh, you know it's not going to happen to me. I see it happen to everybody else. I'll be fine.' I had all the information I needed that night, and I should have left, and I regret every day not leaving.

What do you think would have been different if you evacuated earlier?

If we would have left and used our resources or gone somewhere, we wouldn't have lost a brand new truck that we had just purchased, and I would not have personally experienced that trauma.

What do you think would have happened if you stayed any longer?

I - I - I don't know. I don't know, and I don't think I'd want to know ... I had a truck and a Jeep. And if we didn't have that type of vehicle to get out, and we didn't have somebody to be able to come and rescue us. I don't know what would have happened.

Certainly, a very harrowing experience. Now, what did you leave behind and was it ever recovered? I know when we were talking in that parking lot last August, you were just devastated because you left behind some family members ashes. What happened to that? And did you recover anything else from your home?

I was able to recover the ashes that were left behind because they were up high ... but we did lose items. My mom lost items that belonged to my grandmother, her mom. I lost items that belong to personal friends of mine that had passed away. To this day, we still think about those things that you can't replace. It's heartbreaking, honestly.

Are you still living in that home? Where are you now, and how has the hurricane impacted that?

No, we're no longer in that home. We did move. We wanted to move because we were right there on the gulf. I currently live in New Port Richey ... so when I get off of work tonight, myself and my husband are going to evacuate our home. We're going to do everything we can to protect it ... and then we're going to leave and hope for the best.

Yeah, I mean, I can't even imagine. Thank you for sharing that. What would you tell people under evacuation orders in Pasco County, as Helene nears, you know, those folks in a very similar situation to the one you were in last year?

Evacuate. Do it. You know there's so many resources out there. I know it's not the most comfortable resources. You don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. You don't know what's going to happen to your belongings. But what I can tell you is: if those resources are out there, use those resources. Go to the shelters, go to a family member's house, go to a friend's house. I wouldn't want to see anybody else go through what we went through last year.

You know, we know that hearing first-hand stories plays such a huge role in motivating people to evacuate, but I imagine it's not an easy thing to relive, so thank you, again, Lacie.

You know, if me discussing what happened last year motivates somebody to use those resources, I am grateful.

Well, stay safe, okay?

Thank you so much.