by STEINHATCHEE, Fla. – Residents returned to this coastal town Friday morning to find their beloved businesses flattened, homes swept away and roads flooded, just over a year after another hurricane devastated the town.
Hurricane Helene roared ashore the day before with maximum sustained winds of 140 miles per hour, leaving residents of the community of 500 shocked and heartbroken.
“Every storm we’ve had has gotten worse and worse,” said 63-year-old Susan Grant as she surveyed the damage outside her home Friday.
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Her house was still standing, but rushing water from Helene’s storm surge surpassed the 13-foot stilts on which it stands and flooded the interior, destroying her furniture and sweeping away the entry stairs.
Although she was grateful that she still had a home to return to, her old workplace and local landmark, Crabbie Dad’s Bar & Grill, was razed.
“The whole building is gone,” said Grant, 63, as she stood outside her home.
At least 42 people were killed and millions without power across the region after the Category 4 storm tore through the Southeast.
Helene weakened into a tropical depression on Friday and moved north with strong winds, heavy rain and “life-threatening” conditions, the National Hurricane Center said.
In Florida’s hard-hit Big Bend region, where Steinhatchee is located, flooded roads were impassable, while others were covered in thick layers of mud, tree limbs and debris. Some homes and docks were swept away, while others were flooded.
Grant said her shed fell over and was dragged across her property.
Nearby, a road damaged by last year’s Hurricane Idalia was stripped of its concrete and partially blocked by debris from two docks.
“It’s devastating,” Grant said. “People, they’ve worked here a lot, and it’s just sad. It’s sad that we have to go through so much in one year.”
The street in front of Gary Keen’s house was unrecognizable on Friday after the wave retreated, leaving behind layers of branches, seaweed and other plant debris. Large pieces of wood several inches high were scattered across his property.
Keen and his family had to make a small path and climb over pieces of plywood, coolers and a sign from a company “that wasn’t from around here,” he said.
Part of his house flooded and he lost electricity and running water, but Keen was relieved that his house was in better condition than others he had seen.
“I don’t have much,” he said. “I’m just grateful to have my house.”
For many residents, their situation has been made worse by a lack of accessible flood insurance, meaning they cannot afford to start repairing or rebuilding their homes.
“You can hardly get flood insurance here. If you do, it’s so expensive that a lot of people don’t have it,” said Paul Nawlin, 60, senior pastor of First Baptist Church Steinhatchee.
Docks were destroyed along the Steinhatchee River and the landmark Roy’s restaurant collapsed, the structure collapsing and pointed wooden pillars falling on top of each other.
Concrete blocks and remains of the restaurant, including pots and pans, bottles of wine and table knives and spoons, littered the road along with tree branches.
Ron Bloom, pastor of First Baptist Church Steinhatchee, said it was “heartbreaking” to see places in ruins that had been rebuilt as part of the recovery efforts after Hurricane Idalia.
“We were just looking at five of the houses we rebuilt, and they’re gone,” he said, looking down and his voice catching.
“It’s just been squashed,” Grant said of the beloved restaurant.
Daniella Silva reported from Steinhatchee and Alicia Victoria Lozano from Los Angeles.
