You know you’re in trouble when Jim Cantore from the Weather Channel broadcasts from your neighborhood!
We’ve lived on the east coast of Florida for many years. Each year the forecasters would warn us about a hurricane approaching, but at the last minute it would always veer off to strike Georgia or North Carolina instead. So when my wife said she had a bad feeling about an approaching hurricane I told her that it was nothing to worry about. However this time she was insistent that we evacuate. As I continued to reassure her she finally gave me an ultimatum – she was leaving and that I was welcome to come with her!
So we made plans to evacuate. Given my reluctance to leave I just wanted to spend a few nights in a motel somewhere. However she was also insistent that I rent a U-Haul trailer so that we could take our valuable possessions, things that had sentimental value and was thus irreplaceable.
As I started visiting the various rental places around town I started to get nervous – almost everyone was sold out of U-Hauls. After much searching I finally found a place that had a few left; a place with a line out the door. When it was my turn I was informed that I had rented the very last U-Haul anywhere within a 100 mile radius!
So we packed up our valuables and left for the west coast of Florida (Tampa). I was in the car with our dog and cat pulling the U-Haul behind me; my wife in her F150 pulling a horse trailer with our horse in it. The trip to Tampa was arduous – it seemed everyone on the east coast was trying to leave Melbourne and driving west on Hwy 192.
After a normal three hour trip became six hours we finally arrived in Tampa. The first order of business was to locate a stall where we could board our horse temporarily. Thankfully the folks on the West coast heard about our plight and did all they could to help us. We located a nice facility just on the east side of Tampa that agreed to take our horse for a few days. After getting the horse settled we then rented a room at a local Days Inn to spend a few days there.
The hurricane hit Melbourne at the worst possible spot. The eye landed roughly 60 miles south of Melbourne such that the strongest winds (northernmost) hit Melbourne dead-on. Even Tampa – 150 miles to the west – wasn’t immune. During our three nights at the Days Inn we were continually battered by heavy winds and torrential rain.
When the hurricane finally left the area we made plans to return to Melbourne. It was then that we discovered a local river had overflowed its banks and flooded the horse stall. Our horse was literally standing in water neck-high. As my wife attempted to get the horse out of the stall at some points she had to actually swim instead of walk. The horse trailer was in the same predicament, parked almost 3/4 submerged underwater. Thankfully a local tow truck stopped by and offered to tow the trailer out of the water.
We were now headed home. By the time we arrived home it is was late in the evening, almost close to midnight. Although everything was dark something about the house didn’t look quite right. Only when we opened the front door did we discover that the roof had caved in! Everything was sopping wet; attic insulation was everywhere.
At this point shock was setting in. We tried driving around to locate a motel room but there were no vacancies anywhere. Finally I called my boss to inform him of our situation and ask for advice. He very graciously invited us to stay a few weeks in his guest room until we could locate a permanent place to stay. While I was at work my wife would call the various apartment complexes each hour of each day to check for vacancies. Thankfully after a few days she was able to find a nice apartment. Although for several months we didn’t have any furniture (only the contents of the small U-Haul trailer), we made do until the insurance money arrived to start replacing the furniture. To this day we still talk of spending Christmas in our living room sitting on two folding lawn chairs in front of a house plant decorated with a strand of lights.
Below are pictures of our damaged house. I’ve been told by a neighbor who didn’t evacuate that she watched the hurricane rip the shingles off the house. Apparently once the shingles were gone water poured into the attic to create a swimming pool. When the attic could no longer support the water’s weight the inside roof collapsed, dousing the rooms with water and attic insulation. After the sun came out the water within the insulation and walls turned to mold, making it toxic to enter the rooms. The house was later declared unfit for habitation and had to be rebuilt from the foundation up.