Lincoln couple who moved to Florida greeted by Hurricane Michael | Local

On Labor Day, they unpacked their boxes in their new home, three blocks from the beach, in the Magnolia Bluff neighborhood of Port St. Joe.

A little over a month later, however, they would return from the city in their RV and head to Troy, Ala., To escape the storm.

"We view Hurricane Michael as our welcome charrette and he came in with an explosion," Walker said during a phone call last week, one day before she and her husband finally got home. them.

On October 10, the hurricane, considered the third most intense hurricane in the Atlantic to have landed in the United States, swept their new small town. Retreat to the church steeple and leave homes and businesses that had existed for years in pieces, such as stacks of sticks.

In an article published the next evening on Facebook, Walker told his friends:

"Our charming little town of Port St Joe Florida has been destroyed, along with other nearby towns, and much remains to be done to recover from the brutality of Hurricane Michael. us in your thoughts and give what you can to the Red Cross There are many people here who have lost everything and had very little before the storm Keep this sweet little town of 2,500 in your thoughts and in your heart. "

A few days earlier, they had taken pictures on the beach.

Now, whole swathes of their city and Mexico Beach, just three miles from their home, seemed torn apart by the war, galefully gusty winds of 155 mph and a gale storm wave of 10 feet.

"The water just sank in these houses and took everything with them," said Mowbray. "The damage is incredibly bad."

Corrugated steel was everywhere, like bits of toilet paper, he said. Winds uprooted oaks, rocking them like bowling pins. The electrical poles were broken and lines scattered.

Beautiful homes have just been destroyed, Walker said.

While the hurricane was still at sea, while a category 2 disaster was preparing, Mowbray announced that they had decided to take their caravan and go out. By the time he had become a Category 4, their entire neighborhood was part of one and the same SMS, allowing others to know where they were staying or where they were leaving. Only one couple stayed.

After the storm, in a motorhome park in Alabama, they waited to hear news of their home to find out if the newly built modern home, which they had shut down two weeks ago, was still standing . They received news from neighbors and a Port St. Joe group on Facebook.

Mowbray said that someone had posted a link to satellite images after the storm and that they had been able to zoom in and see their roof still intact. A big relief. But they could not get home as easily as they had left.

On that Friday, they spent 12 hours traveling about 90 kilometers from Troy to Port St. Joe, before being driven back by the police to the bridge that led to the city. They could not come in until Sunday.

That day, in a Facebook post, Walker informed family and friends:

"After seeing our house for the first time since … we felt blessed to have suffered only minor damage."

Mowbray said that they had bought a house on a cliff 21 feet above sea level. But most of the rest of the city is only a foot or two above the level of the sea. the sea.

Walker said it was such a beautiful community, with tall trees and beautiful houses. She remembered telling Jim during a visit that she thought she could live there.

"It's just a very nice place," she said.

It's not big. There is no skyscraper like in Panama City. Walker describes this as a kind of modest area.

"And although it sounds pretty painful right now, we will not go anywhere," she said.

On Wednesday, they and Sophie were finally able to stay at home. They hoped to have electricity soon.

Before the storm, Mowbray said they had met their neighbors next door and had greeted some of the others. Now they know the whole neighborhood.

"Now, not only have we met them, but we have something in common. You are no longer a stranger, "he says.

Three neighbors brought tools because he had not arrived from Nebraska yet, and helped him to temporarily fix the porch ceiling. Others took out their garbage and kept an eye on looters.

The local grocery store, left without electricity as the rest of the city, has developed a system for shopping. The gas company was distributing propane tanks so that people could grill.

Mowbray said everyone had rallied to try to help others.

Walker said it was not easy, but everything was fine. So many others have nothing, she says. She encourages people to donate to the Red Cross whenever they can.

She and her husband both said that they thought everyone in town was a little closer after the storm.

"I think it will be the community I thought I was," Walker said.