'It's been a terrifying day': Former Edmontonians living in Tampa wait for Irma
This is the first hurricane to directly impact Tampa since Chelsea and Chris Dingman moved there in 2002
Former Edmontonians living in Tampa waited in their home for Hurricane Irma on Sunday.
"It's been a terrifying day," Chelsea Dingman said in a phone interview with CBC News in the early evening.
Irma, the most powerful Atlantic hurricane on record, ripped through the Caribbean last week as a Category 5 storm. It weakened as it began tearing over Florida on the weekend and is now a Category 2 storm.
With high-speed winds and 10 to 15 feet of water projected to hit the city over the next 24 hours, Dingman is still concerned.
"The craziest thing is that the wind has sucked all of the water out of the bay that's downtown," she said.
"It's expected that when the eye gets closer, it's going to bring all that water back in with force."
Not easy to leave
Dingman and her husband, Chris, who have two young children, moved to the Florida city in 2002. She said they've never been directly impacted by a hurricane before.
"It has actually been a really, really long and horrible week because it has changed track so many times that we never knew where it was going," Dingman said.
People began fleeing the state days ago, but Dingman said leaving is not easy.
"There were so many people on the road that since Wednesday, the interstates have not even been moving past us," she said.
With gas rapidly running out, Dingman said her family decided to stay put.
"It's a little scary to get caught on a highway that's not moving," she said.
Airports to the south are closed and flights out of airports to the north were expensive.
'I don't think it feels real to them'
The Dingmans planned to spend Sunday night in their laundry room, the only room in their house with no windows or doors to outside. They have mattresses with them in case they need the protection.
As the sun beat down earlier in the week, Dingman said they cleaned their yard, putting all of their patio furniture in the pool and securing anything that could potentially blow into their house.
She said her young children are keeping busy, playing games.
"They're doing pretty well right now," she said. "I don't think it feels real to them yet.
"It will tonight."
With files from Mark Harvey