Vacation in Paradise or Vacation in Parasites?

Story By Mia Hodson

Unless you were living under a rock the past few weeks you have probably heard about Hurricane Milton. 

Milton wiped out a big part of Florida. Rapid warm water took this storm from a minimal hurricane to a massive category 5 in less than 10 hours. This hurricane isn’t just a normal level 5 hurricane, it's a level 5 hurricane with flesh eating bacteria in the flooded water. According to CBS News, "Vibrio bacteria, commonly found in warm coastal waters, can cause illness when ingested or when open wounds are exposed to contaminated water.” Yep, a hurricane is a walk in the park for some people but flesh eating bacteria is more of a sprint for your life.  I hope no one was planning to vacation to Ft Myers this Thanksgiving or Christmas break because those beaches will be wrecked and hungry. 

I asked one family that has vacation planned for Florida this coming break. Archer Gann wasn't too worried about the damage to his vacation destination. “I’m gonna go Golfing but I might go to a beach or two.” This happy camper isn't going to let the hurricane ruin his vacation. I asked his little brother Grayson Gann how he felt about the recent storm. “It barely hit where we are staying. We are outside of Tampa, and I think we will be good.” I personally think I'm going to stay clear of Florida until next year but this 7th grader is keeping the mindset that the hungry little bacteria is afraid of him. “I'm not scared of it, I have too much aura for that.” Let's all wish this happy family some fun days in the sand. I think we have hope to see this flooded bacteria filled water stay clear of them. We also hope it all gets cleared before the seniors embark on their senior trip there as well!

Photo Credit: firstcoastnews.com