Here's my hurricane story! I lost my home in Hurricane Andrew in August 1992. At the time, I was living in Homestead. My husband was working at Jackson Memorial Hospital. On that Sunday, evacuation orders came for the Homestead area. As I had a 16 month old daughter, I decided to leave. The parents of my sister-in-law's husband lived in Mt. Dora (just north of Orlando). I was invited to come to their house. So after grabbing stuff for the baby and a few picture albums, I headed out at 2:00 pm. My husband decided to keep working and ride out the storm. He would take care of the house and the three dogs. He also had a sister and mother that lived in Homestead. Nobody wanted to evacuate with me so the baby and I set off.
No traffic at all until I got to Coral Springs. Then it was 4 lanes of traffic on a 2 lane road. To make a long story short, I pulled into Mt. Dora about midnight (no stops along the way; just a long 200 miles). I was to call these people when I got to town. They phone was busy for 30 minutes (found out later that one of the kids had knocked it off the hook). I finally called the police to ask for help in finding out where they lived. The baby was hot, tired and hungry; I was panicky! Finally, some nice woman from the ambulance service gave me directions to their house. And then told me if I couldn't find it, to call her back and I could stay with her. I finally found the house (in the country) and knocked on the door at 2:00 a.m.
I found out the next day that Andrew destroyed our house. All family members and animals were OK. But it was not safe to bring the baby back to Homestead. So I flew her to Washington DC. to my sister-in-laws. Then flew back to Orlando, grabbed my car and supplies, and headed for home (ha!). Finally got there Friday morning. The insurance adjuster arrived right after I did. Our house was the first home he had looked at. He had tears in his eyes as did my husband and myself. He declared our house totaled and wrote us out a check for the insured amount right then and there. We also received a large chunk of money to live on for a while.
We were able to save a few items in the dining room. It had cathedral ceilings and the ceiling had not caved in yet. Thus, we saved the dining room furniture, some appliances, the baby tools made out of that heavy-duty plastic, and kitchen utensils that were in cupboards. Because of the continual rain and mildew, most everything else was damaged beyond repair - or recognition. And it appears that a tornado had ripped through a corner of the house. Some weird things were found. Our shed was gone, but a ceramic piggy bank (full of pennies) that was in the shed, was found in the yard - not a mark on it! One of our wedding pictures was found by a lady 1 mile away. She found it sifting through debris and mud, and recognized a person in the photo. She gave it to them and now I have it. One of the few pictures of my wedding that remains!
By mid-September, we had quit our jobs, salvaged what little we could, and headed up to DC to pick up the baby. We were separated for three weeks! We drove across country and settled in Spokane, Washington. No hurricanes here!
Losing so many personal possesions and memorabilia was very difficult. Four years later I still think of stuff that I no longer have. The stress was incredible! It was major factor in the break-up of my marriage. But, I'm very happy in Spokane. I've built a new life and think often of Homestead. I still have family and friends living there. The kindness of so many people still brings tears to my eyes and massive thoughts of appreciation. I consider myself lucky that the house was totaled, so I could afford to leave. I know of too many people who had a tough time getting back on track with their homes and lives.
I also now have an empressive "disaster" resume. I have been through the Teton Dam flood (Idaho Falls, ID - 1976), Mt. Saint Helens eruptions (Spokane, WA - 1980), and now Andrew. I have often considered sending copies of my "disaster" resume to folks in southern California. I'd ask for a small donation so I would NOT be their neighbor ;-) Earthquakes, ya know!
Anyway - that's the story.
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