Hurricane Michael has destroyed everything I know - Lounge

badseed

Gender: Male
Age: 35
Location: FL

So yeah, as some of you know I live on the Florida panhandle. Bay county. We got wiped the fuck out. Literally. From Mexico Beach (the small vacation town where I work) to Panama City (where I live), complete destruction. Lots of other places got hit too but we were literally in the eye of the storm. I only lost my garage (everything is now buried under insulation and debris), kitchen (the ceiling fell on my head as I was holding the dining table against the back doors after the boards we secured to it flew away), fence and mailbox while others had it way worse. I haven't seen a single building that went untouched; not a tree left unbroken. Homes, businesses, schools, airports, military bases all gone to shit. The last few days have been an absolute nightmare. My family left for breakfast the morning after the storm, and since everything was obviously destroyed they had to go quite far. Then they weren't allowed back in the county. No cell service meant they couldn't even let me know. I stayed 3 days alone without power or water and my truck battery died from being used as a phone charging station so I was stuck walking through what looks like a warzone, climbing trees and tiptoeing around powerlines in extremely humid weather to check on people and scavenge for food and water.

Anyhow, I'm at a hotel now, 200 miles from home. Been on my phone for 4 hours trying to catch up with everyone who I've been worried about. Now I'm about to take my first shower in in between 4 and 5 days. Needless to say, I feel like a changed man. Not sure if it's for better or for worse.

CA Dreamin

Gender: Male
Location: LA

I guess you saw that I asked you to check in after the storm over on the acting performance thread. I figured you would look there. But anyway, it's good to hear from you and thank goodness you and your family are safe.

albummaster
Janitor

Gender: Male
Location: Spain
Site Admin

Glad your safe, but sounds absolutely awful. Hope you get through everything and wish you luck.

Repo
BeA Sunflower

Location: Forest Park

Good luck, brother! For the better for sure! If u let it!

The important thing is that u and your family are safe. From that u can rebuild anything.

Peace!

Antonio-Pedro
Subspace Highway Traveler

Gender: Male
Age: 24
Location: Rain forest Kingdom

Seems like pretty hard to deal with friend, Sending positive vibrations to you and all your family mate, hoping things turn well to your state and life, God bless.
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Tha1ChiefRocka
Yeah, well hey, I'm really sorry.

Location: Kansas

I wish the best for you and your family.

I live about 30 minutes north of Joplin, Missouri where the costliest tornado in history hit in 2011. The city is still rebuilding, but a lot of the major damage has been fixed. It will take time, but these events tend to bind together communities closer than they ever were before.

JOSweetHeart

Gender: Female
Age: 41
Location: East Tennessee

I've been praying every day for y'all who are down there. If you don't mind my asking, have you ever thought about moving somewhere else if your home in that part of Florida can not be restored? On the news not too long ago, I saw a guy from an area that was hit really bad by Hurricane Florence and he said that him and everyone else there were still trying to recover from what had taken place a year ago and so now they are only right back to where they started which of course is not where anyone wants to be: a complete and total mess.

God bless you and him and everyone else who has been affected always!!!

Holly

P.S. By the way, forgive me if this is a dumb question, but how long does hurricane season go for? From what month till the last? I was born just outside Jacksonville in June of 1982, but I moved to Kentucky when I was four and a half and so I remember very little about being in Florida.
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Hayden

Location: CDMX

All the best Badseed, hope the recovery is as smooth as possible. Important thing is that you and your family are safe.

Sounds like a pretty intense hike... I've seen the footage, but it's impossible to imagine what it'd be like on the ground. And it's pretty hard to say it's changed you for the worse, so don't fret.

This might be shallow comfort, but at least this is something that affected an entire community. You aren't alone, people will tag along and help where needed.

Stay safe and take it step by step.

badseed

Gender: Male
Age: 35
Location: FL

JOSweetHeart wrote:

I've been praying every day for y'all who are down there. If you don't mind my asking, have you ever thought about moving somewhere else if your home in that part of Florida can not be restored? On the news not too long ago, I saw a guy from an area that was hit really bad by Hurricane Florence and he said that him and everyone else there were still trying to recover from what had taken place a year ago and so now they are only right back to where they started which of course is not where anyone wants to be: a complete and total mess.

God bless you and him and everyone else who has been affected always!!!

Holly

P.S. By the way, forgive me if this is a dumb question, but how long does hurricane season go for? From what month till the last? I was born just outside Jacksonville in June of 1982, but I moved to Kentucky when I was four and a half and so I remember very little about being in Florida.

Hurricane season is technically considered 6 months long (June to November?), but most of the noteworthy ones come between August and October it seems.

In regards to if I would move, honestly I think I'd like to. I've spent my whole life living here and only evacuated once back in the mid 90s for Opal, and it wasn't nearly as bad as this. Of course I've seen the damage caused over the years to other cities and states in the southeast, but to experience it firsthand is overwhelming. I feel like I'm still trying to process it. Even being away from it all, it's all I can think about. Spending hours a day on Facebook just waiting and hoping that everyone I know is alive. But the fact is if I did move away from it all, and another one comes and wipes out the homes, businesses and lives of my friends and family, I would still be dealing with it. I just don't want my kids to have to deal with it ever again. That's the main reason I'm considering leaving.

Thanks everyone for the love and support. I'm sure I'll come out of this stronger. I've been through some rough times in life but I feel like I've improved as a person from each experience so hopefully this will be no different.

PurpleHazel

Just found this thread. So sorry badseed. Sounds utterly harrowing. Glad that you and your family are safe. Hope you and they recover from this as soon as possible.