Fleeing Southwest Florida to avoid Hurricane Ian: Homeless men face setbacks in Lakeland

Gary White, The Ledger
·4 min read
27

LAKELAND — Richard Cromer recalls waking his friend, Ernest Griffis, one morning last year to say he had some bad news.

“He said, ‘What do you mean, bad news?’” Cromer said. “I said, “We're floating.’”

The pair, who are homeless, had spent the night on an air mattress beside the bank of a river when the approach of Hurricane Elsa spawned flooding that lifted the mattress off the ground and sent the men drifting.

That experience helps explain why Cromer and Griffis were in Lakeland on Monday morning. The friends sat in their 2006 Ford Expedition, which was parked beside the Talbot House Ministries shelter on North Kentucky Avenue.

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Richard Cromer holds one of his two dogs, a two-week old puppy named Scarlet, beside the Ford Expedition that serves as home for him and a friend, Ernest Griffis. The men drove from Fort Myers to Lakeland to avoid Hurricane Ian, but found themselves with a dead battery and no gas on Monday.
Richard Cromer holds one of his two dogs, a two-week old puppy named Scarlet, beside the Ford Expedition that serves as home for him and a friend, Ernest Griffis. The men drove from Fort Myers to Lakeland to avoid Hurricane Ian, but found themselves with a dead battery and no gas on Monday.

Escaping Hurricane Ian's approach

Cromer and Griffis drove from Fort Myers to Lakeland on Sunday — along with their two Chihuahuas, Miss Lexi and a two-week-old puppy, Miss Scarlet — to escape the approach of Hurricane Ian. They said they had received permission from Talbot House employees to park in the private lot because of the emergency conditions.

“I'm nervous,” said Cromer, 61. “I was inside the building there (at Talbot House) and I just watched the news, and it's now (forecast as) a strong, category four, and I'm a little nervous.”

Cromer and Griffis had draped a white tarpaulin and a green tent over the back and left side of the vehicle, which has about 200,000 miles on it. The men hoped to find a hotel that would allow them to bring their dogs, but they faced an additional challenge Monday morning: The Expedition was out of gas and had a dead battery.

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Cromer said they hoped someone would give them a jumpstart. The men had three plastic containers for gas, but Cromer said all of the gas stations they tried on Sunday were out of gas.

A reporter noticed some stations in Lakeland that had plastic bags covering pumps, the signal that gas is unavailable, though some stations seemed to have supplies as of Monday morning.

Hurricane Ian's projected path into Florida, as posted Monday by the National Hurricane Center.
Hurricane Ian's projected path into Florida, as posted Monday by the National Hurricane Center.

Rent not affordable

The two men were previously renting what Cromer called “a nice, two-bedroom trailer,” but the owner evicted them, leaving the Expedition as their only shelter. Both men have income from Social Security disability payments.

Griffis, 35, said his payment had not been deposited Friday, as he expected, and he was hoping the money would arrive Monday afternoon so that they could fill the cans with gas from a convenience store that Cromer had discovered had gas available that morning.

Cromer said he inquired about vacancies in one of the affordable housing sites managed by Talbot House but was told nothing would be available for a week or so. He said he wasn’t sure he and Griffis could afford the rent with their limited income.

Both Cromer and Griffis said they had plenty of experience with hurricanes. Cromer said he previously worked as a paramedic, and Griffis spent time living aboard a boat belonging to his father, one capable of ocean voyages.

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Griffis said he once endured the close passage of a hurricane as he was aboard the boat in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

Evelino Hopkins, 61, sat in a chair on a sidewalk near the Talbot House office Monday morning. Hopkins said he had been living in one of the ministry’s housing options for about six months since returning from Las Vegas. He recalled enduring Hurricane Irma in 2017 inside a house he was then renting in Lakeland.

Shelter for unhoused people

Hopkins said he hadn’t talked recently to anyone living in a local homeless camp.

The Polk County Sheriff’s Office sends deputies out to local homeless camps to warn about the potential of a hurricane and inform them of available shelters, spokesperson Brian Bruchey said Monday. As the hurricane gets closer, deputies will even arrange transportation to shelters, he said.

But the majority of the homeless avoid going to shelters, Bruchey said.

Lakeland Police Department spokesperson Robin Tillett said the agency’s homeless liaison officer was making contact Monday with unhoused people to make sure they were aware of the hurricane and to encourage them to take shelter.

Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on Twitter @garywhite13.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Hurricane Ian: SWFL men face issues in Lakeland after fleeing storm