The Hurricane Days Part II

Because of hurricanes like Helene, and Hurricane Milton, I think back to a storm we had in Florida a few years ago called Storm Debby. Known as Cape Verde storms, they form in the far eastern Atlantic near the Cape Verde Islands, off the coast of West Africa. There wasn't much warning in the news. It was just a tropical depression. A storm.

At the time I had a home on Shore Acres. A beautiful area but only 4 ft above sea level prone to flooding. We had debated this before purchasing the home but this was a stilt home design with most of the living space upstairs.

It was a rookie mistake that we didn't prepare for Debby. We figured the garage might get flooded but never bothered to get sandbags or lift up a stair area in the back to keep water from getting in through the patio. I'm usually a forward thinker and a planner, but I didn't have my head wrapped around flooding or storms quite yet.

We began to notice very quickly that Debby was a small, compact storm with a band of intense rain. A 96-hour rainfall that topped 16 inches. The water grew higher and higher. It crept up the driveway into the garage, swept around the back of the house, and began seeping in.

We went downstairs and a heated fight ensued because I had not lifted up a bed, and furniture in the bedroom. I have not emptied the closets. We walked in filthy wet cold dark insect ridden water nearly a foot deep and had a another argument as I made a futile attempt to build a barricade using spare deck boards. 

Since we had electrical outlets downstairs, we rushed upstairs. I tried to eat dinner but lost my appetite. And I cried. The storm played on my worst fears becuase there was no control over anything.

We watched as the streets turned into rivers.  Monday rolled around and I wasn't sure how to get to work. I couldn't drive my car anywhere or I'd ruin the engine. I had recently been hired as a designer for a company in Largo, so I called my new supervisor and she told me tersely I would be expected at work OR I could lose my job.

I sent my supervisor a picture of the situation and she told me there was nothing she could do and that "those were the rules." I hung up the phone and told my ex to pull the kayaks up to the front of the house. My plan was to kayak toward 22nd Avenue where the elevation was higher, get out and walk down 22nd Avenue North, and have my sister - who lived in Brandon pick me up in her car and take me to work in Largo. 

My ex thought it was a good plan and it actually worked but I was aggravated that my employer actually put me through that.

The unfortunate storm that flooded my house and forced me to kayak was only the beginning of my exasperation however. The CEO and upper management made a huge ordeal out of Storm Debby and created a disaster relief fund to directly assist those devastated by the storm. As I sat there at work, I was told the fund had thousands of dollars for theunfortunate victims of St Pete. And we were asked to donate to the fund. Meanwhile, as an employee of the company, I had just kayaked there and suffered about 4-5 K in damage and been expected to show up to work. The irony of the situation was completely lost on them and I was ignored.

When I got home in the evening the water had subsided, and I can't remember exactly, but I think I had to kayak back. The amazing thing was how fast the water drained in the streets - like it never happened in about two days.

Later on in the month, I got a very small sum of money from an insurance claim, (about $500) since we had a $1500 deductible. Then basically drywall repair which I did on my own and we hired two commercial dehumidifiers and ran those day and night until the downstairs area was warm and dry. Some of our neighbors told us the downstairs area was ruined, unsafe, and moldy. But the dehumidifiers had worked.

The furniture survived and for the most part, we were okay but I never let a Florida storm miss my attention again. And the next time one came, we were better prepared. I don't live there anymore, and since Helene has hit, Shore Acres is in far worse shape. Ever since I came to North Carolina and one of those storms rolls into Florida, I think to myself - at least I'm safe now. Little did I know that these storms could spin all the way up here, as if they've followed me.