Bend family back from Florida after Hurricane Irma

A Bend family was on a trip to Disney World in Orlando, Florida when Hurricane Irma arrived.

The Hoveys were there to celebrate the sixth birthday of their granddaughter, Henley.

Mark Hovey, an IT manager at Deschutes Public Library, and his wife, Cindy, have lived in Bend since 1998 and have never experienced a storm quite like Irma.

“It was fine until the power went out, and then you could hear things, and like groans and roars,” Cindy Hovey said Friday. “And you know, when we were all trying to go to sleep, you hear things flying past that you know shouldn’t have been flying that high off the ground.”

The Hoveys were without power for a day and a half while they rode out the storm in their hotel room. They had no way to charge their cellphones after they died and no way to let loved ones know they were safe.

Once the power was restored, they turned their attention to getting back home.

“I kept watching the airlines to see if we were canceled, and all the flights were canceled,” Cindy Hovey said. “And then the day before we were supposed to leave, all the flights from Orlando to Houston were canceled but one, and I thought, ‘Oh my goodness.’ But then Wednesday morning, I checked it all, and it’s like, ‘On time, you’re good to go, show up early,’ which thank goodness, because the airport was a madhouse.”

The Hoveys said that while the storm did add to the excitement, they are in no rush to head back to Florida during hurricane season any time soon.