Top picture: Our god-daughter, Marisa, pointing to how high the water came up during the flood.
Middle: My friend Martha's (Marisa's mother's) house where we weathered the storm
Bottom: Leslie, photo taken on May 10, 2006
We were very lucky.
Markel and I had evacuated to that house, my friend Martha's house, after putting our cars up on high ground at the local middle school. We didn't want to leave because if the storm bypassed us, as they often do, we needed to be able to open the store right away. We had already lost so much money with the 3 other storms that had hit the Keys before Wilma last summer.
We had weathered the whole night of the storm,wide awake and finally fallen asleep when Eva woke me up at 9am to ask how we were doing-
When I opened the front door to look outside, that's when I saw the floodwaters, which were still rising! What a sight; I couldn't believe it.
The houses on either sides of Martha's house are at ground level and they were full of seawater, boats driven by teen-age boys were going down the middle of the street trying to help people in trouble, and cars still parked out front were filled with water. We had no idea how much higher the water was going to go, but fortunately it stopped rising where Marisa is pointing.
Martha (who evacuated to Michigan with her family) had a storage shed in her backyard which had come loose and impaled itself on the fence leading to the back. All of the contents of her shed were ruined and belongings were floating all over the back, bobbing in the water.......all of her stored antique and new Christmas ornaments, books, artwork by her parents, photographs, paperwork....it was heartbreaking to see.
Our own house on Ramrod Key is also at ground level and we just assumed that it had been flooded. When the flood waters receded later on that day, we managed to drive to our house to survey the damage we were amazed to find that our house hadn't flooded. Apparently our property is on one of the highest parts of Ramrod Key. The water rose two inches according to our next door neighbor. Our storage place was also dry and our cars were safe. Our store didn't flood either. We were very lucky! Some people lost everything, cars, furniture, photos.....you name it. We were very lucky, because like many others down here we have no insurance.....for those who did, there are a lot of car dealers and furniture store owners who had a very good year.
Markel and I had evacuated to that house, my friend Martha's house, after putting our cars up on high ground at the local middle school. We didn't want to leave because if the storm bypassed us, as they often do, we needed to be able to open the store right away. We had already lost so much money with the 3 other storms that had hit the Keys before Wilma last summer.
We had weathered the whole night of the storm,wide awake and finally fallen asleep when Eva woke me up at 9am to ask how we were doing-
When I opened the front door to look outside, that's when I saw the floodwaters, which were still rising! What a sight; I couldn't believe it.
The houses on either sides of Martha's house are at ground level and they were full of seawater, boats driven by teen-age boys were going down the middle of the street trying to help people in trouble, and cars still parked out front were filled with water. We had no idea how much higher the water was going to go, but fortunately it stopped rising where Marisa is pointing.
Martha (who evacuated to Michigan with her family) had a storage shed in her backyard which had come loose and impaled itself on the fence leading to the back. All of the contents of her shed were ruined and belongings were floating all over the back, bobbing in the water.......all of her stored antique and new Christmas ornaments, books, artwork by her parents, photographs, paperwork....it was heartbreaking to see.
Our own house on Ramrod Key is also at ground level and we just assumed that it had been flooded. When the flood waters receded later on that day, we managed to drive to our house to survey the damage we were amazed to find that our house hadn't flooded. Apparently our property is on one of the highest parts of Ramrod Key. The water rose two inches according to our next door neighbor. Our storage place was also dry and our cars were safe. Our store didn't flood either. We were very lucky! Some people lost everything, cars, furniture, photos.....you name it. We were very lucky, because like many others down here we have no insurance.....for those who did, there are a lot of car dealers and furniture store owners who had a very good year.
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