October 14 :
After having their belongings swept away by Hurricane Helene a few weeks ago, Chris Fiore was expected to be receiving new furniture and appliances. Instead, the woman was utilizing a broom to clear the ground level of her condo, a house she had bought four years ago, of mud and seawater as Hurricane Milton made landfall this week in Siesta Key, a barrier island community in Florida.
On October 10th, Fiore stated, "There is no chance I'm pulling up stakes," pointing to the shoreline where, only moments before, the ocean water was two feet (60 cm) up a wall. "I'm doubling down, thinking about hurricane windows and doors, figuring out how to stop this water from coming in."
On October 10, Reuters spoke with many Siesta Key residents who shared this opinion. After two devastating storms in as many weeks, the number of persons helping with cleanup and distributing business cards selling roofing and other construction services far surpassed the number of residents.
Despite the warnings of additional powerful hurricanes on the horizon, everyone was feeling gloomy, but nobody appeared defeated. According to Pat Hurst, who has been living on Siesta Key since 2011 and has been visiting for over twenty years, paradise remains paradise despite all this chaos.
"That said, cleaning up from one hurricane while trying to prepare for another was really stressful." You may still appreciate Siesta Key's allure long after a hurricane has passed, which may be a mystery to people who reside in hurricane-prone areas. This spot is straight out of a Jimmy Buffett album. Downtown is dotted with attractive restaurants and bars, and the neighborhood is home to a mix of low-slung residences and three-story condos painted in cheerful pastels.
Roads covered in pure white beach sand that extended several blocks inland after Milton. Helene flipped houses on their heads and piled every conceivable household item along roadways, destroying them. The trees were uprooted, and the coconuts were scattered. Ships that usually moored in waterways were abandoned on dry land. Atop the dumpsters that were already overflowing from the cleanup of Helene, Milton's trash was piling up.
On Saturday, rescuers were rescuing people caught by rising floodwaters in other parts of the state, according to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Many towns remained without electricity and fuel. He announced that federal funding to assist citizens and municipalities in meeting these costs had been authorized by the Biden administration. The media said that at least seventeen people died because of Milton.
On October 10, DeSantis stated that he would not be inclined to stop individuals from redeveloping regions that were deemed vulnerable. "People work their whole lives to be able to live in environments that are really, really nice, and they have a right to make those decisions with their property as they see fit," he said the media. Despite being most at risk from hurricanes and increasing sea levels due to its low-lying terrain, Florida has surpassed all other states in population growth since 2021.
According to Weather Source, an environmental risk consultancy, 78 out of the 80 riskiest places in the country are located in Florida. In 2023, the average cost of property insurance for residents was $4,060, which was approximately $1,000 more than the national average.
The 49-year-old Sherry Tom persuaded her husband and three daughters to relocate to Siesta Key from Pittsburgh in 2021 so they could escape the harsh winters. She expressed her deep affection for this place. The thought of having to deal with the constant dread that something similar may happen again is terrifying. No matter what, we intend to remain.
She believes they will have to tear down their house and start over, according to Tom. She was dead set on remaining. One of the houses constructed with the water-resistant pecky cypress wood by Frank Archibald, the first developer of Siesta Key, is owned by Marko Radosavljevic, 54 years old. However, in the last two weeks, both wind and water have caused damage.
In the midst of clearing out the house he has owned since 2017, Radosavljevic expressed his utter dismay at the thought of abandoning a location "with a special island vibe." Storms and efforts to replace older residences like his with hotels were also mentioned by Radosavljevic as reasons he refused to be pushed out of his home.
