Residents of the Sunshine State once again have endured events that are not so sunny. Hurricanes Milton and Helene shook Florida and caused a world of destruction. On the contrary, amusement and fascination by Floridians and viewers on TikTok perceived and endured this tragedy from a different sense. How has Gen-Z affected the perception of panic and delayed the seriousness of climate change? The information that follows will adhere to and analyze just that. 

Hurricane Helene arrived first and struck land in Florida on September 27th. Helene proceeded to rip through Georgia and affected North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee. Reaching winds up to 140 mph, Helene was recorded as a category 4 hurricane. Cat 4 Hurricanes have the capabilities of disrupting roof structure of buildings, wall exteriors, in addition flooding or what’s more commonly known in hurricanes as storm surge.  Destruction that was caused resulted in over 47 billion dollars in damages, which will be catastrophic to the following states economy and residents. 

Hurricane Milton arrived next, bringing tears to the eyes of meteorologists. Milton debuted on Oct. 5, reaching a category 5 with wind speeds of 140 mph. Oct. 9 was when it officially hit land at a category 3. Even then, Milton still spawned multiple tornados across the state of Florida. People were told to evacuate causing intense traffic with little to no movement. Vehicles were left abandoned due to no access to gas when on the road. Residents who didn’t evacuate were told to write their name and birthday on their arm. That way, if life threatening circumstances occurred, authorities could then attempt to contact them, or the correct people if found deceased.

Throughout all of the tragedies and devastation that has occurred, national recognition of the hurricanes exploded on social media. Gen-z reconstructed the panic that subsided on Tik-Tok with non-evacuators making light of the situation with funny meme videos. The importance of moving through a situation without panic is of utmost importance, but many people are becoming hasty as to the impertinence of our future: Climate change. 

Support for Florida and other affected states at this time is of the utmost importance, please consider donating to show your support for those in need.