Childhood sweethearts Laurel and Ian Avery-Dewitt devoted years to saving up so they may depart Wisconsin and get their Florida dream dwelling, slightly vibrant yellow home with Caribbean blue doorways that shortly earned the nickname "Casa Banana." Then Hurricane Ian got here, and blew their roof off "like a zipper."
The Class 4 storm devastated their Port Charlotte dwelling because it lashed southwest Florida. Movies present streets and neighborhoods overtaken by a number of ft of ocean and buildings gutted from the highly effective winds.
The Avery-Dewitts had spent 50 years within the Midwest earlier than transferring to the world in 2012. They arrange a "little oasis" of their yard, which they shared with their son Max, corgis and Maine Coon cats. Now, all of that's in shambles.
Ian and Max noticed the home first. Once they have been driving to it, they have been hoping it might be OK as a result of the road did not appear to be too unhealthy.
"Then we bought to the purpose of, 'Oh, wait a minute. The place's our home?' and 'Whose home is that?' ... After which it hit me that, oh, that is ours," Ian advised CBS Information. "It is only a lot smaller than it was once. ... The entrance giant window had misplaced the highest two shutters and we might see inside. You might see the blue sky by means of the shutters the place the kitchen and the eating room have been."
Laurel did not go there till later. When she noticed their dream dwelling, all she might do was cry.
"To go dwelling the opposite day was heartbreaking. I can not even put into phrases what it feels wish to see your life unfold throughout your yard, and the inside of your home, to search for and see that you've a blue sky and nothing else," Laurel advised CBS information over the weekend. "...It is all gone."
The household evacuated the house previous to the storm, however their neighbor noticed what occurred.
"The folks behind us mentioned half of our roof landed of their yard. They mentioned it got here off like a zipper ... such as you're ripping a field prime off," Laurel mentioned.
Simply two gadgets of be aware remained intact amid the particles — a sugar bowl that has been in her household since 1835 and an indication that was hung exterior their dwelling that reads "It is simply one other day in paradise." That signal was the very first thing that they had placed on their home after they moved in.
She mentioned the injury was a "worst-case state of affairs." And it occurred throughout a lapse of their dwelling insurance coverage. She mentioned their insurance coverage firm canceled their coverage final yr with out warning. They'd simply lastly acquired and paid for brand spanking new protection, but it surely would not kick in till October 21.
Each Laurel and her husband are of their late 50s. They'd managed to be debt-free on their dwelling, however she mentioned they're nonetheless working and haven't got practically sufficient financial savings to cowl the price of rebuilding, particularly after the pandemic. Laurel's sister has began a GoFundMe to assist them of their restoration efforts.
"You hear about issues like this and also you by no means suppose it may occur to you. By no means," she mentioned. "It shatters your world."
"I am sort of ranging from zero"
A couple of hours away, in Key West, Tyler Martin is dealing with an identical destiny — solely his dwelling was additionally his sailboat, which he had been engaged on revamping for greater than 5 years with each spare minute of time and each spare cent. He was simply six weeks away from a long-awaited sail to Bocas del Toro, Panama — a spot the place, he famous, there aren't any hurricanes.
Martin, who runs Bluesail Trip Yachts and Crusing Academy together with his shut good friend Scott Mayer, was holed up at a marina when Hurricane Ian unleashed its storm surge on the Keys. His sailboat was out of the water on boat stands when the surge picked up.
"All through the evening, it simply bought an increasing number of traumatic," Mayer advised CBS Information. "...I believe it was 2 or 3 within the morning, and you can see it in his face and his eyes he knew that his boat was not going to make it."
"I knew my boat was going to die ... and there was nothing I might do about it," Martin mentioned, noting that the storm's surge coincided with king tides, making water ranges "the very best of the yr."
"Regardless of what number of occasions I attempted to place the boat stands again and tighten them, the waves have been simply coming and simply knocking them down. And it bought to level the place it was simply too harmful to be there and I needed to simply again up and I simply accepted the inevitable that the ocean was gonna take it."
When he went to go see his boat within the morning — the one during which he'd invested years of blood, sweat and all his financial savings — the mast was damaged and the bulkheads have been crushed. It was "cracked and crunched," laying on its aspect on the rocks.
"My whole life was sort of aimed in that course of finishing the boat. I had huge plans and desires and rapidly it is like, that is not going to occur anymore," he mentioned.
For Martin, it was a devasting blow. He is been residing on sailboats since 2008 and in Key West since 2015. He would not personal many private gadgets, however the ones he did have — pictures, letters and little mementos — are all soaked in diesel gas. He is now homeless, with a "bag full of garments and that is just about it."
"I am sort of ranging from zero," he mentioned, in a peaceful and picked up voice, "however I've my life. I've my pals and my well being. I nonetheless have a vibrant future forward."
Mayer began a GoFundMe for Martin, who he tearfully described as "the sort of man that even it impacts him negatively, if he may help you, he'll take the shirt off his personal again" with out asking for something in return.
Regardless of all the things, Martin says he is impressed for the brand new chapter in his life, and grateful for the neighborhood that has labored so laborious to deal with and assist him after the storm.
"There's a whole lot of individuals within the state of Florida which have misplaced all the things, however have no one there to catch them. No person there to present them a roof over their head. And so I think about myself actually lucky."
He nonetheless plans to get to Panama, ultimately, and his love for the ocean has not even remotely wavered.
"It is like remedy, it is like medication to be on the water," he mentioned. "...You are gonna encounter storms, you are gonna encounter tough climate...however if you happen to can overcome these, you get by means of it, you're feeling completed, you study lots about your self and the world and the folks round you."
All he can do is sail ahead — the identical plan that's in retailer for the Avery-Dewitts.
"We do not plan to depart. We're gonna rebuild," Laurel mentioned. "...'Casa Banana' will stay once more. And the tiki backyard will stay once more and we'll have Jimmy Buffett enjoying and all."
- Learn extra: The way to assist victims of Hurricane Ian