{"id":110019,"date":"2024-10-03T19:31:44","date_gmt":"2024-10-03T12:31:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=110019"},"modified":"2024-10-03T19:31:44","modified_gmt":"2024-10-03T12:31:44","slug":"florida-communities-hit-three-times-by-hurricanes-grapple-with-how-and-whether-to-rebuild","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=110019","title":{"rendered":"Florida communities hit three times by hurricanes grapple with how and whether to rebuild"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>HORSESHOE BEACH, Fla. (AP) \u2014 It was just a month ago that Brooke Hiers left the state-issued emergency trailer where her family had lived since <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\"><a class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/florida-hurricane-idalia-2136985ceea53f5deb600c43aeea1138\">Hurricane Idalia<\/a><\/span> slammed into her Gulf Coast fishing village of <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\"><a class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ap.org\/news-highlights\/spotlights\/2024\/battered-by-hurricane-idalia-last-year-florida-village-ponders-future-as-hurricane-season-begins\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Horseshoe Beach<\/a><\/span> in August 2023.<\/p>\n<p>Hiers and her husband Clint were still finishing the electrical work in the home they painstakingly rebuilt themselves, wiping out Clint\u2019s savings to do so. They never will finish that wiring job.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"LinkEnhancement\"><a class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/rainfall-helene-carolina-tennessee-georgia-climate-change-flood-fcba634e14a0ffa1a8e1fa85d7e2b390\">Hurricane Helene<\/a><\/span> blew their newly renovated home off its four foot-high pilings, sending it floating into the neighbor\u2019s yard next door.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou always think, \u2018Oh, there\u2019s no way it can happen again\u2019,\u201d Hiers said. \u201cI don\u2019t know if anybody\u2019s ever experienced this in the history of hurricanes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For the third time in 13 months, this windswept stretch of Florida\u2019s Big Bend took a direct hit from a hurricane \u2014 a one-two-three punch to a 50-mile (80-kilometer) sliver of the state\u2019s more than 8,400 miles (13,500 kilometers) of coastline, first by Idalia, then Category 1 Hurricane Debby in August 2024 and now Helene.<\/p>\n<p>Hiers, who sits on Horseshoe Beach\u2019s town council, said words like \u201cunbelievable\u201d are beginning to lose their meaning.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve tried to use them all. Catastrophic. Devastating. Heartbreaking \u2026 none of that explains what happened here,\u201d Hiers said.<\/p>\n<p>The back-to-back hits to Florida\u2019s Big Bend are forcing residents to reckon with the true costs of living in an area under siege by storms that researchers say are becoming stronger because of <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\"><a class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/fact-check-climate-change-hurricanes-florida-151966812108\">climate change<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>The Hiers, like many others here, <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\"><a class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/homeowners-insurance-climate-change-wildfire-disasters-9c7129881f12ec478386e4b47c1acbbc\">can\u2019t afford<\/a><\/span> homeowner\u2019s insurance on their flood-prone houses, even if it was <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\"><a class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/insurance-florida-business-desantis-a6c3a8e6127ecbf270099e87238ed47e\">available<\/a><\/span>. Residents who have watched their life savings get washed away multiple times are left with few choices \u2014 leave the communities where their families have lived for generations, pay tens of thousands of dollars to <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\"><a class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/hurricane-idalia-florida-rebuilding-coastal-communities-ffefd72ade9706f70f2941aee08cf866\">rebuild their houses<\/a><\/span> on stilts as building codes require, or move into a recreational vehicle they can drive out of harm\u2019s way.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s if they can afford any of those things. The storm left many residents bunking with family or friends, sleeping in their cars, or sheltering in what\u2019s left of their collapsing homes.<\/p>\n<p>Janalea England wasn\u2019t waiting for outside organizations to get aid to her friends and neighbors, turning her commercial fish market in the river town of Steinhatchee into a pop-up donation distribution center, just like she did after Hurricane Idalia. A row of folding tables was stacked with water, canned food, diapers, soap, clothes and shoes, a steady stream of residents coming and going.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve never seen so many people homeless as what I have right now. Not in my community,\u201d England said. \u201cThey have nowhere to go.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>\u2018It\u2019s just gone\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>The sparsely populated Big Bend is known for its towering pine forests and pristine salt marshes that disappear into the horizon, a remote stretch of largely undeveloped coastline that\u2019s mostly dodged the crush of condos, golf courses and souvenir strip malls that has carved up so much of the Sunshine State.<\/p>\n<p>This is a place where teachers, mill workers and housekeepers could still afford to live within walking distance of the Gulf\u2019s white sand beaches. Or at least they used to, until a third successive hurricane blew their homes apart.<\/p>\n<p>Helene was so destructive, many residents don\u2019t have a home left to clean up, escaping the storm with little more than the clothes on their backs, even losing their shoes to the surging tides.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople didn\u2019t even have a Christmas ornament to pick up or a plate from their kitchen,\u201d Hiers said. \u201cIt was just gone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In a place where people are trying to get away from what they see as government interference, England, who organized her own donation site, isn\u2019t putting her faith in government agencies and insurance companies.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFEMA didn\u2019t do much,\u201d she said. \u201cThey lost everything with Idalia and they were told, \u2018here, you can have a loan.\u2019 I mean, where\u2019s our tax money going then?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>England\u2019s sister, Lorraine Davis, got a letter in the mail just days before Helene hit declaring that her insurance company was dropping her, with no explanation other than her home \u201cfails to meet underwriting\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Living on a fixed income, Davis has no idea how she\u2019ll repair the long cracks that opened up in the ceiling of her trailer after the last storm.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ll all be on our own,\u201d England said. \u201cWe\u2019re used to it.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>\u2018This could be the end of your town\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>In the surreal aftermath of this third hurricane, some residents don\u2019t have the strength to clean up their homes again, not with other storms still brewing in the Gulf.<\/p>\n<p>With marinas washed away, restaurants collapsed and vacation homes blown apart, many commercial fishermen, servers and housecleaners lost their homes and their jobs on the same day.<\/p>\n<p>Those who worked at the local sawmill and paper mill, two bedrock employers in the area, were laid off in the past year too. Now a convoy of semi-trucks full of hurricane relief supplies have set up camp at the shuttered mill in the city of Perry.<\/p>\n<p>Hud Lilliott was a mill worker for 28 years, before losing his job and now his canal-front home in Dekle Beach, just down the street from the house where he grew up. <\/p>\n<p>Lilliott and his wife Laurie hope to rebuild their house there, but they don\u2019t know how they\u2019ll pay for it. And they\u2019re worried the school in Steinhatchee where Laurie teaches first grade could become another casualty of the storm, as the county watches its tax base float away. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve worked our whole lives and we\u2019re so close to where they say the \u2018golden years\u2019,\u201d Laurie said. \u201cIt\u2019s like you can see the light and it all goes dark.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dave Beamer rebuilt his home in Steinhatchee after it was \u201ctotaled\u201d by Hurricane Idalia, only to see it washed into the marsh a year later.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t think I can do that again,\u201d Beamer said. \u201cEverybody\u2019s changing their mind about how we\u2019re going to live here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A waterlogged clock in a shed nearby shows the moment when time stopped, marking before Helene and after. <\/p>\n<p>Beamer plans to stay in this river town, but put his home on wheels \u2014 buying a camper and building a pole barn to park it under.<\/p>\n<p>In Horseshoe Beach, Hiers is waiting for a makeshift town hall to be delivered in the coming days, a double-wide trailer where they\u2019ll offer what services they can for as long as they can. She and her husband are staying with their daughter, a 45-minute drive away. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou feel like this could be the end of things as you knew it. Of your town. Of your community,\u201d Hiers said. \u201cWe just don\u2019t even know how to recover at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hiers said she and her husband will probably buy an RV and park it where their home once stood. But they won\u2019t be moving back to Horseshoe Beach for good until this year\u2019s storms are done. <\/p>\n<p>They can\u2019t bear to do this again.<\/p>\n<h2>___<\/h2>\n<p>Kate Payne is a corps member for The Associated Press\/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\"><a class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reportforamerica.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Report for America<\/a><\/span> is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script>\n  window.fbAsyncInit = function() {\n      FB.init({\n              appId : '870613919693099',\n          xfbml : true,\n          version : 'v2.9'\n      });\n  };\n  (function(d, s, id){\n     var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];\n     if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;}\n     js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;\n     js.src = \"https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js\";\n     fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);\n   }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1660802\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>(function(w,q){w[q]=w[q]||[];w[q].push([\"_mgc.load\"])})(window,\"_mgq\");\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/hurricane-helene-climate-change-florida-big-bend-182d68761b3d2328e56e3fb8d9cdb802\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>HORSESHOE BEACH, Fla. (AP) \u2014 It was just a month ago that Brooke Hiers left the state-issued emergency trailer where her family had lived since Hurricane Idalia slammed into her &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=110019\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8629],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-u-s","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=110019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110019\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=110019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=110019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=110019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}