Influencer Caroline Calloway says she will 'die' in hurricane because she refuses to evacuate

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An influencer has decided to use her platform to tell her followers that she will not be evacuating her home in Florida, where Hurricane Milton is expected to make landfall.

Caroline Calloway, 32, rose 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 by her former friend Natalie Beach claimed that Calloway had her captions written by a ghostwriter.

The author, who now lives in Florida, explained on her Instagram Story on Oct. 8 why she didn't leave an evacuation zone before the Category 4 hurricane.

“So if you were following Hurricane Milton, um, I'm going to die!” she said on her now-deleted Instagram Story Daily Mail. “It’s supposed to land in the Sarasota-Bradenton area. I’m in Sarasota, I live by the water, it’s Zone A, mandatory evacuation.”

Calloway further explained why she didn't go, mentioning that she couldn't drive, the airport was closed and her previous evacuation during Hurricane Ian was “traumatic.”

“Her whole street was flooded and we were evacuated by the US military after three days without power or running water,” the influencer said, recounting how she had previously left her home to travel to her mother's house during the last hurricane. “It was very traumatic and that's why I don't want to evacuate to my mother's house because the last time I did that was the worst time ever!”

At the time of publication, Calloway revealed that she was still at home with her cat and her bathtub was filled with “emergency water” in case of a power outage. “We have food, but it's kind of scary and…yeah, I'll keep you posted,” she concluded, before showing her followers a clip of Tampa Bay Mayor Jane Castor saying that “you “If you don’t evacuate,…” will die.”

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She then turned again to X, formerly Twitter post about not leaving her home during the hurricane. “I will not evacuate because of 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 will come out soon if I survive! It's an advice book 😉 Sweet!!!!!

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 to gain influence is crazy work.” I can do it don't hate. The drama, the content. (sic) If you live, victory is undeniable. Please, if nothing else happens, just save the cat.”

Other commenters urged Calloway to evacuate Florida because of her cat and not herself.

“As a human, you can endanger your own life, but please get your helpless cat out of there,” 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 at the last minute and leave him behind, GET OUT.”