Good day, friends and family, I come to you this day in a time of need!

Last Wednesday night my sister, Nina, and her soon-to-be husband, Lee, went to bed as hurricane Ian made landfall on the west coast of Florida. Sandbags were in place and they were ready to ride out a heavy storm.

Everyone in our family has been through many hurricanes over the years and while Ian was looking tough, we didn't expect much more than heavy rains and strong winds to buffet our small cities of New Smyrna Beach and Edgewater on the east coast of Florida.

Nina woke up around 1am while the storm was raging so she went around the house to double check everything. The doors were still closed, nothing was out of the ordinary, and the sandbags were holding back the little water gathering outside from the rain.

A couple hours later her cat Mowgli woke her up trying to get comfortable in the bed. It was then that Nina heard dripping in the house, and when she put her feet down to get out of bed, her feet were ankle deep in water.

She immediately woke Lee, they picked up Mowgli and grabbed a few belongings before vacating the house and making it over to our mom's place. A few hours later, around 7am I accompanied Lee and Nina back to their neighborhood hoping to salvage anything from the flooding house.

Driving back to the neighborhood was like something out of a movie. The streets were empty of traffic with branches and fallen trees blocking routes. Two to three feet of water had accumulated in areas which had caused inexperienced drivers to stall out in the rain as they desperately tried to reach their destinations.

People were pushing stalled and overheated cars off the road.

Emergency vehicles were driving all over town.

At this point, you needed a large truck (or a boat) to make it through the flood waters on some streets.

By the time we neared the block their house was on, Lee had to slow to a couple of miles per hour to prevent the wake from his truck from entering people's homes. And once we got to the end of the street, we realized it was pointless. The torrential rain raised the water level to the mailbox. You can see Nina's silver GMC in the driveway below.

The only thing left to do was wait for the rain to stop and the flood waters to subside.

The house sat under 2-3 feet of water for more than a day, but eventually the waters receded enough to enter and survey the damage.

The front entry way:

The kids' room:

The living room:

The dining room:

Their bedroom:

And as with the worst disasters, it couldn't have come at a worse time. Nina had just finished decorating the house for fall, and Lee and Nina had been talking about buying the house from their landlord. They loved the neighborhood, their neighbors, and the property had a great yard for the kids to run around in.

Mowgli, the cat that saved the day:

So, I come to you all today to ask for your assistance in helping my sister and brother-in-law to get back on their feet. Their wedding is in two weeks and due to the water damage, they won't be moving back into the house and are relying on the generosity of friends and family to have a place to stay until they find a permanent living situation.

I asked them to give me a list of everything they lost in case you want to donate enough for a specific item, but obviously, any contribution is appreciated!

"We appreciate any and all of the help we are receiving during this trying time. We absolutely could not do this without the support from you. Thank you from the very bottom of our hearts! Lee, the boys, and I appreciate it more than we could ever say!"

—Nina