Search For Victims Concludes; Florida Coast Aims For Ian Recovery
Newsy
Hurricane Ian was the third-deadliest storm to hit the U.S. mainland this century.
An army of 42,000 utility workers has restored electricity to more than 2.5 million businesses and homes in Florida since Hurricane Ian's onslaught, and Brenda Palmer's place is among them. By the government's count, she and her husband, Ralph, are part of a success story.
Yet turning on the lights in a wrecked mobile home that's likely beyond repair and reeks of dried river mud and mold isn't much solace to people who lost a lifetime of work in a few hours of wind, rain and rising seawater. Sorting through soggy old photos of her kids in the shaded ruins of her carport, Palmer couldn't help but cry.
"Everybody says, 'You can't save everything, mom,'" she said. "You know, it's my life. It's MY life. It's gone."
