Caroline Calloway, Who Irked The Internet By Snubbing Hurricane Milton Evacuation Calls, Dubbed ‘World’s Worst Influencer’

As Hurricane Milton marched across Florida on Thursday, whipping up deadly tornadoes, destroying homes and knocking out power to more than 3 million customers, an Instagram influencer got hate from netizens for snubbing evacuation calls despite her home being in the evacuation zone.

Caroline Calloway, a 32-year-old influencer and writer, sparked a social media controversy with her now-deleted post which said: “So if you’ve been following Hurricane Milton, I’m going to die”.

“It’s supposed to make landfall in the Sarasota-Bradenton area. I’m in Sarasota, I live on the water. It’s a zone A, mandatory evacuation,” she said in video clips posted on her Stories section of Instagram handle.

Calloway is not a stranger to controversies.

She describes herself as a ‘scammer’ and duped hundreds of her social media followers by charging for ‘creative workshops’ that never happened.

She also squandered a six-figure book advance on an unfinished project.

Calloway had launched a skincare line named ‘Snake Oil’. After facing accusations of owing $40,000 in rent, she vacated her West Village apartment and moved to Florida. Her fraudulent activities were later exposed in the BBC documentary My Insta Scammer Friend, where victims recounted how she deceived them.

Snubbing Evacuation Call

Caroline took to social media to say she would not evacuate even though Florida officials said that those who stay back ‘will die’.

“I can’t drive, first of all. Second of all, the airport is closed. Third of all, the last time I evacuated for a hurricane, I went to my mom’s house in Northport for Hurricane Ian … Her whole street flooded and we were evacuated after three days without power or running water by the US military,” she said.

She said she was staying home with her cat and had prepared by filling her bathtub with ‘backup water.’

Some netizens urged her to reconsider her decision but some also questioned the veracity of her posts.

“Caroline Calloway has lied about so much. What makes us sure she’s not lying about not evacuating?” a social media user said.

“I have champagne and four generations of Floridians in my veins. It’ll be fine,” Caroline said, reacting in a carefree manner.

The storm hit Florida’s west coast on Wednesday night as a Category 3 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, with top sustained winds of 120 mph(205 kph). While still a dangerous storm, this was less violent than the rare Category 5 hurricane that had threatened the state as it trekked over the Gulf of Mexico toward Florida.

At least two deaths were reported at a retirement community following a suspected tornado in Fort Pierce on the east coast, NBC News reported, citing St. Lucie County Sheriff Keith Pearson. His department did not immediately respond to a request for details.

Milton weakened as it crossed land, dropping to a Category 1 hurricane with top sustained winds of 85 mph (145 kph) as it reached the peninsula’s east coast, the National Hurricane Center said. By Thursday morning, the storm was moving away from the Florida Atlantic coast, lashing communities on the eastern shoreline.

The eye of the storm had hit land in Siesta Key, a barrier island town of some 5,400 people off Sarasota about 60 miles (100 km) south of Tampa Bay.