SEVERE DAMAGE | Hurricane Ian | 9:34 PM - Matlacha, Florida #stormsurge #hurricaneian #hurricane2022

Papa stayed out on Bokeelia, FL (an interior, barrier island) during Hurricane Ian!!

We couldn't bare to wait for the storm to end completely, we had to try to get to him. The rain had finally stopped and the wind was barely managable... but emergency services were completely suspended and would be until morning. We couldn't live with that.

Little did we know that our path would be impossible, completely impassable. Matlacha Pass had gained 150 feet when Ian ripped a huge chunk of island and roadway out to sea.

As we arrived here, we could see a few vehicles stopped and people out of their cars. And just beyond that, a car floating away.

A man had rushed out to the island just like us. He hadn't heard from his wife since 10am and she was on Pine Island - where we knew took some of the worst of the surge and the wind. He said he was driving and all of a sudden he felt a bang... and his car was floating in the black turbulent pass.

He was so damn lucky to be alive himself and I have spent every day since that moment wondering about his wife. Praying for them both.

The pass has been filled and the bridge repaired. I wish I could say the same for all the lives that Ian ravaged.

Shock is real. It got us through the search and rescue part. It got us through the supply drops and the smell of death. It got us through the hot, wet nights and it kept us focused as we hauled and cleaned and discarded of our most treasured belongings.

But the shock has worn off and we are left with this feeling of guilt. Of fear. Of uncertainty and real trauma. But there is hope scattered among these feelings.

There is hope in the smile of a stranger who doesn't feel like a stranger anymore because somehow collectively, you've been through the same last 45 days.

There is hope is the children who have found things to do outside and put down controllers now to ring a door bell and ride a bike instead. A lack of electricity and internet for two weeks will do that.

There is hope in the sight of our lighthouse, built in the late 1800's on the tip of a peninsula, on the tip of another peninsula - standing tall and deemed almost structurally sound (just like us).

And so we will look to these little beacons of light to illuminate the darkness that Hurricane Ian brought with him. And we will rebuild. And before we know it we will be floating off Picnic Island again, but this time - we will be grateful in a different way and we will honor our paradise in a like it is sacred, because it is.

Hurricane Ian took - and it is up to us to take back. And we will. Because this is Florida and we are FLORIDA STRONG!

Видео SEVERE DAMAGE | Hurricane Ian | 9:34 PM - Matlacha, Florida #stormsurge #hurricaneian #hurricane2022 канала capecoral jade