Living through Hurricane Ian

This was, by far, the worst storm I’ve lived through, and I lived through typhoons in the Philippines. It was Joel’s first hurricane (he said, “1 star, cannot recommend”). But as bad as the storm was, living through the aftermath felt much worse. We were lucky, everyone in the family came through ok, and while there was damage to the house (I’ll get to that later) it was not as bad for us as it was for many others.

This story really starts months ago…as a Father’s Day present my brother, sister and I all told our parents that we had booked flights and we were coming out to surprise them for an early Thanksgiving family reunion.

We were all arriving on Wednesday, September 28th, or Thursday, the 29th. When we realized how big hurricane Ian had become and that the storm would be making landfall on Wednesday, Joel and I changed our flight to arrive ahead of the storm. We arrived Tuesday morning, hopped in our rental car and drove straight to my parent’s house. We arrived in time to put up the storm shutters and secure everything we could.

Soon the rain and wind began. Here is a view from our front door at around noon.

My sister had rebooked her flight for Tuesday afternoon but we called and told her to cancel as it was already getting bad. Joel kept taking quick videos from the front door of the house until we didn’t feel safe opening the door. Here is the view around 2 p.m.

And our last video around 3 p.m.

We lost power around 2 p.m. and by nightfall we were making the best of things by playing games by candlelight.

At some point in the early evening the wind and rain shifted and began to pound on the front door. And the rain wasn’t falling straight down, nope, 150 mile per hour winds were carrying the rain straight across through the air. Turn up the volume for the video below to hear how loud the wind sounded.

It was hitting the front door so hard that rain began seeping in under the door and through the door jams.

By early night we had used almost every towel in the house. My mom ended up putting three large loads of towels through the washing machine after the storm.

The morning after the storm we had a chance to go out and see how much damage there was to the house. We already knew that the lanai screens were damaged and we heard something on the roof during the storm but didn’t know what had happened.

Keep in mind as you see these pictures, we were lucky!

My mom was able to get in touch with a tree trimmer they used before. He came by on Sunday and removed 5 or 6 trees around the house.

It was so much more shocking to see all this in person. Usually, we only see images like this on the news and it can be hard to understand just how much of an impact a storm like this has on people.

Joel and I took a walk around the neighborhood to check on neighbors. Everyone was o.k. but every house had damage. Here are some pictures from nearby – we could only walk about two blocks due to the flooding.

It took about 24 hours for the worst of the flooding to recede or dry out. We were able to walk a bit further to see how other neighbors were doing.

After a few days one of my parent’s neighbors lent us a couple of bikes. We were able to ride through the receding waters to check on our friends Curtis and Marie who live about 1 1/2 miles away. These pictures were taken Friday, September 30th – two days after the storm made landfall.

One of the main roadways through town is Price Blvd. It crosses several canals to link a couple of other main roads together. The hurricane knocked out two of the bridges nearby shutting down this main roadway, probably for months.

As I mentioned earlier, we heard something on the roof during the storm. It turned out to be roof tiles blowing away. We didn’t have buckets of water leaking into the house but we did end up with large water spots on the ceiling in a few rooms.

During the first two days we had no power or water at the house, and cell service didn’t come back for almost five days. Joel and I were concerned that it would rain again and water would actually come through the ceiling this time. We didn’t have access to the internet or the news so we couldn’t look up the weather. The first day after the storm we managed to drive a few miles away and found some cell service to make calls to let family know we were ok and to find out about the weather.

We noticed quite a few neighbors installing tarps on their roofs to prevent further damage. We didn’t have any tarps at my parents house to install for them.

However, we met a crew installing tarps at another house during one of our walks. Joel and I asked them to come give us an estimate. My parents were happy with their bid and tried to book them right away. — And here is why the real pain of a hurricane is the aftermath. — We needed to contact their home office to sign a contract and schedule the crew to come out. We didn’t have cell or internet at the house. Joel and I were able to drive a few miles down the road to find some cell service and call them. Unfortunately, cell service was very spotty in the days right after the hurricane and the call kept dropping. So we called my brother in Hawaii to explain the issue. Over several calls with him I was able to pass on the company’s phone number and what we needed done. He was able to contact their office in Florida to schedule and electronically sign the forms. So crazy that we couldn’t reach them ourselves when we were in the same state.

The crew showed up the next day. They told us they had driven 7 1/2 hours to get from Tampa to North Port. During normal times this 90 mile (144 km) drive takes no more than 2 hours but the freeway flooded and they had to take surface streets all the way here.

As I said, we were lucky. Power and water was restored to the house after two days. My parent’s house is on the same grid as the Public Works Department and Fire Department next door and they said they have never lost power during past storms. Everyone else around us was without power for over a week. And homes out here have wells for their water. When the power is out their water pumps won’t work and that means they are also out of water. No drinking water, no showers, no running water to flush the toilet, no water for washing your hands as you clean up the yard and street. We spent two days pulling buckets of water from the pool and putting them into the toilet tanks each time we had to flush. We also went through so many hand wipes to keep clean. This was something I had never thought about before.

Also, we were lucky our freezer was so full (because my mom expected the whole family in for the reunion) that everything stayed frozen (like a huge block of ice) until the power came back on. My mom and I cleaned out the food that didn’t survive in the warming refrigerator.

We know most neighbors either had a generator to keep the refrigerator powered on, or they lost everything. My parent’s next door neighbor ended up keeping her cat’s insulin in our fridge until her power came on a week later.

During our walks we invited many of the neighbors over to charge up their cell phones or to bring jugs by the house to get some drinking water (we were under a boil water notice for about 10 days after the water came back on and were boiling pots of it for drinking). The next door neighbor came over each morning to make her coffee and pick up some insulin. It all seemed so normal but as I write this it sounds crazy.

As the streets dried out you were able to see just how high the water had been by the lines of debris that were left behind.

One of the lots nearby had some construction material ready for the house that was going to be built soon. These bags of cement were blown open during the hurricane and the rain mixed with the cement hardened in the bags.

One of the worst hit areas nearby was Sanibel Island. We heard the causeway (bridge) collapsed during the hurricane and anyone still on the island after the storm had to be evacuated by boat or helicopter. Here is a picture I found online of the devastation.

It is all so sad. It will take months, or even years, for the area to get back to normal. We are thankful nobody around us was hurt. Joel and I spent two weeks cleaning up the yard and helping any friends or neighbors who needed help with their homes. We feel very thankful we were able to be there to help everyone when they needed us.

My family has rebooked our flights and will try again to get back out next month for our Thanksgiving reunion.