Alumni 55th Reunion Central

​​Allegheny Class of '​66

My street weeks after the storm... cleanup took months.  I nearly forgot there was pavement under all the sand and dirt.

The yard at my rental property - why ground level homes are not permitted any more in this area!

Canal near my house

Three story 12 unit condo that collapsed about a mile from me.  Yes - only the top floor showing above water!

Read more Stories of the Severe Weather  

​​The Severe Weather Events of 2017 Impacted Several Classmates.....

Typical cleanup along U.S. One that continued for months - still ongoing

Suzy Spence Miller lives in the Florida Keys where Hurricane Irma began its trek north through the Florida peninsula.

This is her account of the impact of Irma in the Keys.

Hurricane Irma.... although I have lived in the Florida Keys 37 years, this was the first time I ever had to evacuate for a storm.  What a sight awaited us when we got back.  Several homes on my street were damaged beyond hope and have since been demolished.  Hurricane debris was piled high on the highway right of way.  

My house survived with pretty minor damage... one room destroyed when a door blew in, the workshop and storage on the lower level was flooded and three feet of sand was piled in the carport.  Lost my dock - well it wasn't lost - it was pushed off the ocean and through my yard 80 feet and was wedged under the house.  The worst of the damage was to my yard and gardens!  Some damage continues to get worse as we haven't had enough rain to wash away the salt that is killing some of the vegetation that survived the winds.  No power, no water, no internet, no phone, cell or land line... but just a matter of weeks until repairs were completed.  

The good part... how help arrived so quickly!  Heartwarming stories were frequently shared.  Two guys on the next street over - ones I hadn't known previously - came over and helped my son and a neighbor of his  pull debris to the street for the FEMA pick-up.  One of them even rented a little bulldozer to help with the heavy stuff. A power company from Wisconsin had our power back on within two weeks.  DirecTV installed a new satellite dish within a month.  My computer savvy son figured out how to restore my internet service... from a dish reattached to the roof. A friend with heavy equipment worked almost two weeks bringing in 12 dump truckloads of fill to restore my front yard and plant a few new trees and shrubs.  I look out my windows now and can momentarily forget the mess Irma made.  

I still have a long to do list...  back yard will take a few more months; a rental duplex that provided retirement income needs to be demolished; a seawall repair is awaiting permits; restoration of the room blown in will take another month.  But every day there is a little more progress.  And life is fine in the interim.  

Best - our community spirit has never been better.  Everyone is working together to bring back normalcy: volunteer  clean-ups are the norm; since the week of the storm, free meals are available at churches to those in need.  And there is a friendliness like never before! 

As a bit of a footnote: In April of 2017 I canceled the windstorm insurance that had covered my house for the last 35 years.  I felt it was just too expensive .... so I should have known the "big one" would find me!

My yard....just 10 days after the storm... debris already removed, much of the vegetation died later from so much salt.

Tricia Stickney Foy reported in from Jacksonville Florida after Hurricane Irma did it's damage there... with just a photo of a work truck with its message and a photo demonstration of her restoration project and :

Hurricane Harvey - hit Texas in August, causing massive flooding in the Houston area..... after making landfall near the home of Don Zuris:

My wife, Gaye, and I rode out Hurricane Harvey when it hit just northeast of us on the evening of August 25, 2017 as a Category 4 storm.  Our townhouse made noises I have never heard before, and the only damage was a small portion of our back fence fell and a few shingles were missing.  It was quite an experience that I do not want to go through again any time soon.