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As Hurricane Ian hit land and inflicted heavy gusts and massive rainfall on Florida, a slew of internet users documented the storm with TikTok livestreams. Some even streamed from the Disney World resort in Orlando, which shut Wednesday and Thursday due to the extreme weather conditions.
There's a whole TikTok subgenre of Disney vloggers and people who attend the Disney parks and resorts and post about their experiences. But when the storm hit, the content quickly switched from vlogs and day-in-the-life montages to people describing how they were forced to evacuate the scene, while others stayed at the locked-down hotels and streamed the hurricane as it intensified, responding to questions from viewers in live-time.
One of the streamers was a British man living in America who goes by the name "Tom," and who has grown a large fanbase under the TikTok handle "waltdisneyworldparks" with Disney-themed videos. He recorded the storm as it developed while staying at Disney World, watching the rain and answering questions sent by viewers.
Another TikToker named Andrea Marks livestreamed from a Disney World resort on Wednesday afternoon. Loud gusts of wind could be heard as she stood outside and talked with viewers leaving comments. Marks walked around the area and at one point picked up a "CAUTION" sign that had collapsed on the ground.
Marks told commenters she was holding up well in the storm and that Disney was taking care of her party by allowing them to extend their room, delivering them hurricane supplies, and comping their tickets.
A couple of people staying at Disney's All-Star Movies Resort streamed the storm under the handle "PrincessKimby" on Thursday morning. A woman carrying a Disney-themed cup at one point held up an umbrella, which immediately bent upside down so it was unusable. Other resort guests could be seen in the background wearing colorful ponchos and walking around the resort while heavy wind billowed and rain came down.
A ranching microinfluencer staying at Disney's Wilderness Lodge livestreamed on Thursday morning, surveying the damages caused by the hurricane. Although she noticed some fallen trees, she said it "looks like it normally does, nothing major." She said there was no flooding where she was, and that the worst part of the storm came overnight.
Numerous TikToks about Hurricane Ian's impact on Disney World have also spread widely on the app, including a video detailing how Disney protects its many animals by securing them "backstage" in pens and keeping experts onsite. Another TikToker made a video about how she had to evacuate Disney World and how her family barely made it on one of the last flights out of Orlando airport before it also closed down.
There has been a widespread effort on social media to record the storm and its minute-by-minute shifts, with Floridians across the state livestreaming on TikTok and sharing videos on Twitter. During the TikToker Tom's live stream at Disney World, he would frequently thank new viewers for subscribing to his account.
The storm, which was downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm on Thursday, has caused at least two unconfirmed deaths so far, with serious flooding and record rainfall. The storm is expected to gain hurricane-level strength once again as it drifts up northward.
President Joe Biden on Thursday declared the storm a major disaster in Florida, which will provide federal funding and aid to affected areas.
