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University of Miami student from Johnson Co. evacuates in advance of Hurricane Irma

JOHNSON COUNTY, Ind. (WISH) – Evacuations are underway in Florida in advance of Hurricane Irma, and one of the people who already left the state is a Hoosier who is studying at the University of Miami.

As of Wednesday, he was back home in central Indiana with his family waiting out the storm.

Zachary Cooper is a freshman student and member of the dive team at the University of Miami. He says he followed the advice of his coach and evacuated sooner rather than later.

“They’re closing classes and canceling practice and stuff like that and suggested we should probably figure out a plan to leave or go somewhere else,” said Cooper.

Cooper said they’ve been watching as the storm develops.

“We noticed the path was getting a lot closer to go through Miami… the heart of the storm was going to go through it,” Cooper said.

Before evacuating, Cooper said he moved everything away from the windows in his dorm room and put important items inside a closet. He says he’s hopeful the early notification and experience with hurricanes helps protect people and prevent major damage.

“They’ve experienced this before. They have experience with it. They know how to handle this and I trust their judgment,” Cooper said.

Right now Cooper has a flight back to Miami scheduled for Tuesday, however that may change depending on the weather.