By Jennifer Heebner, Editor in Chief
Mark Loren is breathing yet another sigh of relief as his home, business, and boat have once again eluded damage from another powerful storm—Hurricane Milton last week.
“The hurricane prep is terrible, but we’re fine,” explains the owner of Mark Loren Designs in Fort Myers, Fla. “I have a jeweler friend in Sarasota, Fla., who had three feet of water in his store.”
Just a week after Hurricane Helene touched down in several Southern states, Milton joined the weather fury by making landfall near Siesta Key, Fla., as a Category 3 storm last Wednesday night. Some 17 people have been reported dead due to Milton, including five from tornadoes that hit St. Lucie County. Millions in Florida were left without power, and NBC News reported, “The hurricane dumped so much rain over parts of the Tampa Bay area that it qualified as a 1-in-1,000-year rainfall event.” Storm surges were estimated to reach as high as 12 feet in some places.
Port Charlotte was one of them, according to Michael Jakubowski of wholesale gem operation Gem Fanatic.
“We had some street flooding but really lucked out,” he says. “We had more flooding from Helene than Milton. We lost power for 10 hours, but otherwise the storm didn’t affect us too badly.”
Osprey, Fla., was also hit with rising waters, but resident Jo Deng, owner of Aurora Designer, also escaped damage.
“We lost power for a few days but just got it back,” she told AGTA on Friday. “Two trees were uprooted in my yard, but the rest is okay. There’s a lot of clean-up to be done, but we are hoping to get back to normal next week. There was no flooding at my location, thank goodness! My neighborhood and surrounding areas are safe from water.”
President Biden visited St. Petersburg, Fla., on Sunday to inspect damage, pledging resources to those affected, according to FEMA. FEMA personnel, the National Guard, and myriad other agencies were on the ground to assist those in need. Click here to fill out an application for federal disaster assistance, or phone 800-621-3362.
This is proprietary content for AGTA and may not be reproduced.