All is Well
All is well. My parents didn’t suffer too much damage. The roof on their rental needs replacing but that was an issue before the hurricane. My grandparents lost some shingles and aluminum siding on their house. They also had to have some branches on one of the trees in their backyard cut down.
My parents Miata had a huge dent in the trunk when a storage roof fell on it. My in-laws need a new roof. Theirs was already in bad shape and the hurricane made it worse. They have a few leaks in the roof that are holding up because of the 5 tarps covering the roof. The majority of the trees in their yard were either cut down or will have to be cut down. The finally got power on Tuesday afternoon. But the rest of the week, the power kept browning since the rest of town was slowly getting power back. My grandparents finally got their phone service back up on Monday evening. But no one yet has cable back. Overall, they were all very lucky.
We drove around town and were just heartbroken over some of the damage we saw. Houses completely crumbled to the ground. One house had the complete roof laying in the front yard on top of 3 vehicles. Another mobile home was on it’s side with the roof slammed into a tree. It was just heartbreaking, but the number of people that came out to help was just amazing. The power was restored at my in-laws by a power company from Mississippi. We passed caravans of power trucks from West Virginia and Missouri. My husband said he also saw power trucks from Oklahoma and Texas. There were comfort stations all over town handing out hot meals and providing bathrooms and showers for those that didn’t have power or water. We saw a disaster relief group from Georgia, Alabama and Texas.
Police and national guard personnel from other areas in Florida arrived to relieve the local officers who worked round the clock directing traffic and helping with cleanup.
We really do live in a great country. In times of need, the whole country comes together to help each other out. It makes you feel good to know that in times of need, people reach out and do what they can to help.
