The nervous Floridians who spoke with the Butler Eagle last Friday are breathing a sigh of relief today.

The handful of former Butler County residents who moved from Butler County to Florida were facing the prospect of Hurricane Irma slamming the Sunshine State on Sunday morning as a category 4 storm.

At that time, forecasters were still unsure of Irma's exact path, and those who hunkered down to ride out the storm waited nervously to see which way the spinning tempest would turn.

Those who fled watched hour after hour of television to see if their empty homes were likely to suffer damage.

On Tuesday, Beth Briggs Giuliano, Erin Parkinson Gombos, Sandy Tribley Rice, Paula Gracik and Jenna Cornibe were relieved the worst of the predictions didn't transpire.

Giuliano moved to Estero, Fla., less than a month ago to escape the Western Pennsylvania weather.

She and her husband traveled from their condo to her sister-in-law's home on Friday night because of the availability of a generator and storm shutters on the windows there.

“There are usually three lanes of traffic, and nobody was out,” Giuliano said of their eerie trip to Miami.

While her sister-in-law's pool overflowed, the home had no damage and the streets did not flood as a result of the heavy rain and wind that battered South Florida all day Sunday.

“There was just a lot of yard debris all over the place,” Giuliano said. “We made the right decision by going there.”

The Giulianos arrived back at their condo on Tuesday morning, and saw heavier damage in Estero because the eye of the hurricane had swept directly overhead.

Large trees and other bigger debris littered the town on Tuesday.

“The condo is fine, but the (area) is a mess,” Giuliano said. “The community is so large it's hard to say when it's going to get cleaned up.”

The power outage at her home caused her icemaker's contents to melt and leak onto the floor in front of the refrigerator, and a leak at the sliding glass door caused minor damage to the plaster wall.

While the electricity remained out at her condo on Tuesday afternoon, a shopping center three miles away had power.

“We're heading there now,” Giuliano said.

Asked to sum up her experience in her first hurricane, Giuliano said she hopes she never sees another one. “It was interesting; it really was,” she said.

Rice of Cape Coral lost two to three shingles and a screen on the lanai at her house. “We are so lucky,” Rice said. “The worst part for us was the anticipation.”

Rice said the power went out at 1:15 p.m. Sunday as the storm raged outside. The river that was her street flowed east when Irma headed east and reversed course and surged west when the hurricane moved west.

“You could see whitecaps (in the water) on the road,” Rice said. “But by (Monday) morning, it was gone.”

Rice, who has a generator, managed to fulfill her 82-year-old mother's request on Monday morning.

“My mom really needed coffee, so I plugged the Keurig in,” Rice said.

She hopes the power returns soon, as the temperature and humidity are rising. “It's hot,” Rice said. “It's really hot.”

Erin Parkinson Gombos, her husband and young daughter fled Fort Myers before the storm to stay with family on McQuistion Road.

The Gombos family remained in Butler on Tuesday, but Erin's mother was on her way back to her home in Naples, Fla., and promised to visit her daughter's house and give a report.

“So we're just kind of hanging out and waiting for the traffic and gas situation to get a little better,” Gombos said.

Because her husband tends a swim-up bar at a hotel on the beach, he was told there would be no work until further notice.

She said according to news reports, her area was not particularly hard-hit.

“I doubt it's going to be terrible, but we are in a flood zone and I don't have hurricane windows,” Gombos had said on Tuesday.

She said the family is torn about returning because there is no power, but they must assess any damage for insurance purposes. “We're just waiting to hear from my mom,” Gombos said.

Gracik, who lives in Davie, Fla., lost power on Friday night. The lights finally came back on in the early afternoon Tuesday.

The longtime Floridian, who spent the first part of her childhood in Center Township, said her home only suffered minor water damage as a result of Irma.

She said compared to the hurricanes that have impacted Florida during her tenure, Irma was “a little worse than Andrew” in 1992.

“The winds were really gusting and you wondered if it was ever going to stop,” Gracik said. “It felt like it was going to take the roof off.”

She said while lots of trees and large branches are down all over her area, the streets did not flood.

“We were on the dirty side of the hurricane,” Gracik said. “If we had a direct hit, it would have been much worse, like the Keys.”

Gracik said those who experienced Hurricane Irma last weekend can take a lesson from its wrath.

“We're ready for the next one,” she said.