Former Ottawa residents in Florida brace for Hurricane Helene

Former Ottawa resident Judy Brown is among many in Tallahassee, Florida bracing for Hurricane Helene as it barrels towards the state.

"We're expecting power to be out one or two weeks or more starting tonight. Everybody was busy getting water, getting food that doesn't need to be cooked, filling jugs of water so if the water system goes down you have plenty to drink," Brown said.

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The storm intensified to a Category 4 hurricane Thursday evening with the potential for a "catastrophic" storm surge, bringing with it damaging winds, rain and flash floods.

"Luckily we're several miles inland from the beaches; they're going to be devastated. They're saying some areas it's [an] 'unsurvivable' storm surge that's coming in," Brown said, adding she was supposed to move on Thursday—a move that's now on hold. "The stores, gas stations are now closed. Everybody's taking it seriously because this is projected to be the worst hurricane ever to hit Tallahassee."

Former Ottawa television host Cyndi Edwards lives just outside of Tampa.

"We're trying to secure anything that's loose, filled up some water bottles just in case we lose water. We have a generator on standby if needed and that's basically all you could do," Edwards said. "Thankfully, we've got hurricane-proof windows, which we put in a few years ago, and that does make me feel a lot more secure."

She's taken in the daughter of a family friend and another student who are both from Ottawa and attending college in Florida on golf scholarships.

"I didn't really have to worry too much about moving anything but all my friends on the first floor of our residence building had to put everything on their bed so nothing flooded and got wet," said Sophie Foulds whose college was evacuated. "So, it's kind of crazy and it was such a short span, like we got back from our tournament right away and we had pack up and go."

Foulds said the school told students to pack as much as they could because they weren't sure how bad it would be or how long it would be until they could return.

"Seeing all the wind and all the rain and everything, especially coming from Canada…it's super different. We're not really experiencing stuff like this so yeah, definitely a little bit nerve wracking but we're trying to make the most of it," said Madeleine Pytura.