After Hurricane Michael: Florida Residents Face Mental Stress Several Weeks After Passing A Devastating Storm

PANAMA CITY, Florida – Amy Cross has trouble explaining the stress of life in a city split in two Hurricane Michael. She is afraid after hear gunshots at nightand she is confused because she no longer recognizes the place where she spent her 45 years.

"I just know that I do not feel real and that at home I do not feel at home at all," said Cross.

Health workers say they see signs of mental problems among residents more than a week after Michael, and that these problems could persist as a short-term disaster turns into a long-term recovery that will take years.

Tony Averbuch, who runs a disaster medical assistance team that sees 80 to 100 patients a day in tents installed in a seriously damaged Bay Medical Sacred Heart hospital car park, said some people showed signs of wear.

It is not difficult to imagine: to get to the treatment site, you have to walk through streets with roadblocks and utility lines in ruins. The hospital building was torn apart by Michael's powerful winds.

"In all kinds of disasters, we find that people have been exposed to circumstances far beyond what they face on a daily basis," said Averbuch of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

For Cross, this meant getting new prescriptions for the medications she was taking for depression.

"We are in shock – it's a lot – it's heartbreaking," she said.

The signs of trauma are not a surprise to those who have studied people after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The damage in Mexico Beach was similar to that in southern Mississippi, where whole communities were razed by wind and storms, and the reconstruction of Panama City could take years, as could parts of New Caledonia. Orleans after the subway flood.

Dr. Irwin Redlener of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University has observed widespread and persistent psychological effects after Katrina. One study found that five years after the storm, parents reported that over 37% of children had a clinical diagnosis of depression, anxiety, or behavioral disorder.

Redlener says that's partly because parents are overwhelmed and are less able to protect their children from bad experiences.

"They survived a major disaster, which is good, but everything they knew is gone," he said.

Researcher David Murphey said that children are turning to their parents to learn how to respond to completely new and frightening situations.

"If they see parents breaking up a bit, it will also create anxiety for the kids," said Murphey.

Dr. Emily Harville, Associate Professor in the Faculty of Public Health and Tropical Medicine at Tulane University in New Orleans, said that most people would return to their original state within a year. about, but that others would have difficulties longer.

"There will be a small group that will continue to have long-term mental health problems," she said.

Panama City Mayor Greg Brudnicki said a football game played in a high school on Saturday afternoon was part of an effort to restore the usual lifestyle habits, to "create a normal life." "in order to help people feel more comfortable in a city devastated by the disaster. l & # 39; hurricane.

"People have been stressed, they have no means of communication, no public service, it has been difficult, but we have worked very hard to create an environment that makes it as good as possible," said Brudnicki.

The game has been a boost for many. Missy Guynn, an English teacher at Mosley High School, had the opportunity to hug students she had never seen or heard of since.

"I was worried for them – it was a pleasure to see them, to communicate with them today and to see how well they are doing," she said.

Jessyka Bartice, 34, from Panama City worries both for her hometown and for taking care of her child. But she is also looking for good in a horrible situation. Perhaps problems such as crime, drugs and racial conflict will improve as people who have been forced to work together during and after the storm have forged new ties, did not they? she declared.

"It's really sad that this is happening, but it has brought everyone together," she said. "This will make this city a bigger and better place."