Jim Smyth has lived on Lemon Bay Drive in Englewood for 42 years. When Hurricane Milton made landfall as a Category 3 storm two years ago, he evacuated across the coast with family friend Michelle Williams. Debris from Hurricane Helene was still scattered around when Milton’s surge and wind arrived, and much of it ended up inside his house. He came back to ruined furniture and a home full of storm debris.
The street never moved in one direction after that. Some of Smyth’s neighbors sold. Others tore their houses down. Some did nothing at all and let the damage sit. Smyth chose a fourth option: he stayed and worked through it, spending roughly a year getting his place back in order. “Ruined. Everything ruined,” he said of his first look inside. Now he’s getting out again, and he figures he may have a few more years to appreciate it.
His advice for the next storm is blunt and worth repeating: get out quick, then hang in there. It might take longer than you expect, but stay at it. Two years on, streets across Englewood are still a patchwork of rebuilds and empty lots. Smyth’s story is one version of how this coastline comes back.
Have you or a neighbor rebuilt after Helene and Milton? Tell us what that process looked like in the comments.
