Shortly after Steve passed away, Hurricane Helene was heading to the west coast of Florida. My sister and I decided it would be best to leave Sarasota and drive across the state of Florida to Daytona Beach. Once there, we could stay in a hotel on the beach and also see her daughter.

It was a wonderful escape and walking on the beach is very therapeutic for the heart and mind.

We missed the wrath of Hurricane Helene, a catastrophic Category 4 and the worst ever to hit the Big Bend region of Florida. Then Helene took a straight shot for North Carolina where it brought rainfall that caused devastating floods across the western part of the North Carolina and parts of Georgia. Tampa Bay had the largest storm surge inundation as did our coastline and the barrier islands wreaking havoc to the beach communities which did not even take the direct hit.

Two weeks later, October 9, Hurricane Milton headed for the west coast of Florida and came ashore at Siesta Key as a Category 3. The eye passed over my home so everyone went outside to experience the weird lull in the eye of a hurricane. The backside was even stronger. Again, the catastrophic devastation in the state was also complicated by many tornadoes throughout the state. Hurricane Milton was the strongest cyclone in the world in 2024 because it became a Category 5 and then dropped to a Category 3 just before landfall, thankfully.

Milton created tons more debris (trees, appliances, furniture, building materials and cars) than from Helene. Although Helene might hold the record in our area for lost cars due to flooding. I did not take pictures debris piled around our city other than the photo above just off the Legacy Trail. As of this date (November 27, 2024), there are still piles of debris on the side of the road and the open areas designated for the trucks to bring the debris before it will be taken to brand new landfill areas somewhere.

Hurricanes are powerful and warnings need to be heeded. Sadly, some people do not heed the warnings or in the case of North Carolina two storms merged and surprised the residents in the rural areas. Unfortunately, the loss of life for these two hurricanes across the southeastern USA – 35 for Milton, 234 for Helene with 26 people still missing.

I survived and so did my home both of these hurricanes. Feeling blessed.