Your support helps us to tell the story
Our mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.
Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.
Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.
Louise Thomas
Editor
An influencer has decided to use her platform to tell her followers that she will not be evacuating her house in Florida, where Hurricane Milton is expected to land.
Caroline Calloway, 32, grew to fame as one of the first Instagram influencers by documenting her time at Cambridge University. However, she later sparked an internet frenzy after a viral essay written by former friend Natalie Beach claimed that Calloway had a ghostwriter compose her captions.
Now living in Florida, the author took to her Instagram Story on October 8 to explain why she had not left an evacuation zone prior to the Category 4 hurricane.
“So if you’ve been following Hurricane Milton, um, I’m going to die!” she said in her since-deleted Instagram Story, per the Daily Mail. “It’s supposed to make landfall in the Sarasota-Bradenton area. I’m in Sarasota, I live on the water, it’s zone A, mandatory evacuation.”
Calloway continued to explain why she wasn’t leaving, mentioning that she couldn’t drive, the airport was closed, and her previous evacuation during Hurricane Ian was “traumatic.”
“Her whole street flooded and we were evacuated after three days without power or running water by the US military,” the influencer said, speaking about how she previously left her home to travel to her mother’s house during the last hurricane. “It was very traumatic and so I don’t want to evacuate to my mom’s house because the last time I did that, it was the worst time ever!”
At the time of posting, Calloway revealed that she was still in her home alongside her cat, with her bathtub filled with “backup” water in case she lost electricity. “We have food but it’s kind of scary and... yeah, I’ll keep you guys updated,” she concluded, before showing her followers a clip of Tampa Bay Mayor Jane Castor saying that if you don’t evacuate, “you will die.”
She then turned to X, formerly Twitter, to once again post about her not leaving her home during the hurricane. “I’m not evacuating for the hurricane. I live in Sarasota, on the beach, in evacuation zone A,” her post began. “For more great advice, buy my second book! It’s called Elizabeth Wurtzel and Caroline Calloway’s Guide to Life. It’s about to come out if I survive! It’s an advice book ;-) Cute!!!!! <3”
Many people in the comments section had claimed that Calloway was using the opportunity to promote her book, such as one person who wrote back: “Mf riding a hurricane for clout is insane work. I can’t hate on this. The dram, the content. [sic] If you live the win is undeniable. Please if nothing else just save the cat.”
Other commenters urged Calloway to evacuate Florida for the sake of her cat, rather than herself.
“As a person you can endanger your own life, please get your helpless cat out of there though,” one person wrote in the comments, while another user said: “Girl do you still have your cat?? It’s a very likely scenario that you have to evacuate last minute and leave him, GET OUT.”
