Parents Flooded House - Irma
Donation protected
Hurricane Irma came through on Sunday night and early Monday morning. My parents live in a small town in central Florida, a short distance from my husband and I (they are in Dover, FL), and they prepared for the storm by doing everything they were supposed to do - even putting plywood over the windows and putting some sand-bags by the doors to block any water that might come their way.
They do live next to a creek - one that has only minorly overflowed its banks a couple of times in the 35 years they have lived in the house. Because of a series of unfortunate events (my dad is a survivor of acute lymphocytic leukemia - diagnosed 12/2014 and has been in remission for the past 18 months) my parents were no longer able to afford flood insurance on their property. As my mother put it, they had to choose between flood insurance and dad's medicine.
When Hurricane Irma came through, the direction of the storm changed so that it went almost directly over the areas that feed the creek. Not only did the electricity go out, it caused the creek to rise, and by 1:30AM on Monday morning water was through the patio, over the sandbags, and streaming into the house. Over the next 4 hours the water rose until it was a foot high in some areas of the house, and more than 6 feet in parts of the yard. Even though they had worked hard through part of the night to move furniture to higher parts of the house, it was no use, and muddy creek water ended up everywhere. To make matters worse my dad had just recently finished painting and putting new floors in several of the rooms of their small house - all of which are now ruined.
My parents called us on Monday morning and told us that the house had flooded and that the sheriff’s office had come by to help them get their vehicles out onto the road so they wouldn't be stranded. We went over there and took the pictures that accompany this GoFundMe.
My dad must do the repairs himself as there wasn't any flood insurance. He is an amazing man and such an inspiration to me and the rest of our family. My husband and my nephew will be helping him do some of the physical repairs, but the cost of the repairs is something that my parents just won’t be able to manage. Our hope is that we can find some people who can take this opportunity to help my mom and dad rebuild the house that my sister and I grew up in, and to make it once again a place where they can call home. I don't really know how much the repairs will cost, but I think it will be more than the $5,000 that I've put in this GoFundMe. We are just trying to help.
Thank you so much for reading this, and if you can help, well... words aren't enough to thank you.
This is how the house looked just before the storm came through.
And this was what it looked like after we got over there on Monday morning. This water is more than 6 feet deep in parts.
They do live next to a creek - one that has only minorly overflowed its banks a couple of times in the 35 years they have lived in the house. Because of a series of unfortunate events (my dad is a survivor of acute lymphocytic leukemia - diagnosed 12/2014 and has been in remission for the past 18 months) my parents were no longer able to afford flood insurance on their property. As my mother put it, they had to choose between flood insurance and dad's medicine.
When Hurricane Irma came through, the direction of the storm changed so that it went almost directly over the areas that feed the creek. Not only did the electricity go out, it caused the creek to rise, and by 1:30AM on Monday morning water was through the patio, over the sandbags, and streaming into the house. Over the next 4 hours the water rose until it was a foot high in some areas of the house, and more than 6 feet in parts of the yard. Even though they had worked hard through part of the night to move furniture to higher parts of the house, it was no use, and muddy creek water ended up everywhere. To make matters worse my dad had just recently finished painting and putting new floors in several of the rooms of their small house - all of which are now ruined.
My parents called us on Monday morning and told us that the house had flooded and that the sheriff’s office had come by to help them get their vehicles out onto the road so they wouldn't be stranded. We went over there and took the pictures that accompany this GoFundMe.
My dad must do the repairs himself as there wasn't any flood insurance. He is an amazing man and such an inspiration to me and the rest of our family. My husband and my nephew will be helping him do some of the physical repairs, but the cost of the repairs is something that my parents just won’t be able to manage. Our hope is that we can find some people who can take this opportunity to help my mom and dad rebuild the house that my sister and I grew up in, and to make it once again a place where they can call home. I don't really know how much the repairs will cost, but I think it will be more than the $5,000 that I've put in this GoFundMe. We are just trying to help.
Thank you so much for reading this, and if you can help, well... words aren't enough to thank you.
This is how the house looked just before the storm came through.
And this was what it looked like after we got over there on Monday morning. This water is more than 6 feet deep in parts.
Organizer and beneficiary
Leslie Calvo Jeppesen
Organizer
Riverview, FL
Linda Barrow
Beneficiary
