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BOUNTIFUL — Greg and Malinda Smith put their family photos, names and cellphone numbers in a cooler bound with duct before leaving their small cottage two blocks from the beach in Tampa Bay for what they thought would be the last time.
With Hurricane Irma barreling toward Florida, Malinda Smith and her 13-year-old special needs son, Grant, and his 8-month-old service-dog-in-training boarded a flight for Utah last Thursday. She packed one carry-on bag with two changes of clothes each because of the long wait to check luggage.
Greg Smith, an emergency room doctor, stayed behind.
The Smiths expected the worst as they parted — Malinda and Grant to her parents' house in Bountiful, and Greg to the hospital.
Based on Irma's predicted course, they figured their house would be under 7 feet of water. But maybe, just maybe, someone would find their cooler filled with precious mementos bobbing in the water and give them a call.
"I cried on and off all day just thinking everything was going to be gone," Malinda Smith said. "It was very emotional and very upsetting."
Smith also worried about her husband. The hospital where he worked in neighboring Pasco County sits in a low-lying area and was eventually evacuated. She prayed for his safety and for the safety of others left in the raging storm's path.
Glued to her cellphone to monitor the storm, Smith figures she's had only about four or five hours of sleep since last week. To her relief, Hurricane Irma moved inland and lost strength as it swept through Florida, and was downgraded to a tropical storm Monday morning.
"It’s the best that could have happened considering what a big monster it was," she said.
Smith, who describes herself as very religious, attributes the less severe than anticipated impact to faith and prayers.
"I'm absolutely certain it was prayers. There's no other reason that it's just taken the best-case scenario," she said. "It was just miracle after miracle after miracle. If it did take a direct impact on Tampa Bay, I don’t know what would have happened."
On Monday, Greg Smith returned to their home to find everything but the fence and some trees intact, along with some outside flooding. He called his wife on FaceTime to show her around.
The house was a mess from the frantic packing to leave, but everything was dry. They both cried. Greg Smith dropped to his knees at one point to offer a prayer of gratitude, with Malinda Smith on the line.
"It's a miracle," she said. "I feel like I'm in a dream right now."
Greg Smith had told her to put money down on a trailer if the cottage was gone.
"I was super grateful I didn’t have to go buy a new house on wheels," she said.
Malinda Smith and her son plan to return to Tampa on Saturday, ready to don a Mormon Helping Hands T-shirt over the next few week as cleanup begins.
"It's been a really tough week. But from this point, it's just going to be moving forward and doing what we can to helps others who weren't as fortunate," she said.
And she plans to prepare better for the next hurricane. She wondered why she doesn't have a bin marked "Hurricane Evacuation."
And maybe she won't have to fill a cooler with family photos again. She might finally get around to scanning those photos and digitizing those videos before the next storm.
