Residents of a retirement community in the southeastern U.S. state of Florida who survived Hurricane Milton and the ensuing tornadoes recounted their dreadful experiences on Saturday.
The U.S. National Weather Service issued a staggering 126 tornado warnings across Florida this past week after Hurricane Milton made landfall on October 9 as a Category three storm. The unprecedented number of warnings in a single day left many communities reeling.
Among the hardest hit was Spanish Lakes Country Villages in St. Lucie County, where two tornadoes hit. The second tornado, an EF2 with winds reaching 220 km/h, uprooted homes and tragically claimed the lives of six members of this close-knit retirement community.
Henry Pierce, a Spanish Lakes resident, recalled the horror of seeing his home destroyed while he was still in it.
"It went right over my head. I was in my house, the house was lifting and I ran through and the house was lifting up, and I guess the pressure from the wind blew the windows in and the roof blew off, and I was on my knees next to my freezer looking up, and I watched the roof of my house blow off, and I watched the tornado go right over my head at the same time," he said.
In the midst of chaos, Pierce rushed out to help his neighbors, only to find that they had been killed in the storm.
"I ran out of the house and I started, I looked over there and I said, 'Those are my friends. Those are my neighbors.' I went to try to find them, but I found two passed, and one we couldn't find," said Pierce.
"And then the two people that lived where that van is, as soon as the wind stopped, I was running everywhere trying to help people. I found them. He was passed, but she was still alive at the time. I helped get the roof off her legs with a couple of policemen, and they took her away," said Pierce.
Claudia Peak, another resident, said that three of her neighbors died on Wednesday, and three more on the other side of her trailer.
"I wasn't concerned about dying. I really wasn't. He (God) is not done with me, and that's the only thing I can put together -- that's the reason we are still alive. And so much devastation, and every day they have the cadaver dogs coming through looking for people still," said Peak.
Still processing the overwhelming devastation around her, Peak is now staying with her partner at a neighbor's home.
The landowners of her leased property have informed her that they will soon clear her lot.
"I was able to salvage clothes and a few dishes, kitchen stuff -- all the stuff that costs big money to replace. I don't know what I'm going to do with it all, but we do have a tent and an air mattress, whatever. I have no idea. I have no idea. My mind can't even wrap around that. This thing totaled both of our cars," said Peak.
Pierce is staying with his next-door neighbor, Carol Fensterer, who is 91. Her home is one of the few that withstood the fury of the second tornado.
"Now I have a good helper here. He takes care of me. I can't drive anymore. My eyesight's not that good, so he does the driving," said Fensterer.
Despite the devastation, these resilient seniors embody hope and strength, working together to clean up the remnants of their lives.
Retired survivors recount harrowing experience of Florida's hurricanes-induced tornadoes
Retired survivors recount harrowing experience of Florida's hurricanes-induced tornadoes
