Disasters and dementia

Rescue mom

I know Hurricane Ian was not a concern for most, but I have some enforced downtime, and some thoughts that may be of interest to anyone in any disaster area and/or spent time in Southwest Florida…

A month after, many/most care facilities have fewer residents, b/c of building damage and/or no staff due to storm issues. Some facilities evacuated their residents to places 2-3 hours away. Some are still there. Families very unhappy about distance, but at this point, few alternatives. 

 Meanwhile, more families (facing post-storm problems) want to place and finding waits of a year.  Home help, hard to find before, is much harder now. Many workers dealing with their own problems and —a big one—lack of transportation.

There are very few cars, especially rental, available. So many destroyed in storm, so residents need cars, plus demand from thousands of workers who poured in. (Ditto for hotel rooms/housing.) FEMA trailers are just now arriving. You’d think the car rental companies (and trailers) could deal better, but ?

Most big-box businesses recovered pretty fast. But—another lesson—while they tell you to get cash to last a few days, we needed cash longer than that, and it was very hard to get. Banks destroyed, along with ATMs/power.  Same for meds, especially those with “restrictions.”  A “few days” was not enough,  doctors were out of reach/no office left, and drugstores closed longer than expected. Something must be done about this in future.

Beyond those  needs,  the vacation hotspots of Sanibel and Fort Myers Beach essentially no longer exist. No power, no water/sewer, no roads, no habitable buildings. A few dozen people (estimated) there still, but all self-sufficient—living on or with boats, and generators. Family who had/did big construction work there for decades say it’s unrecognizable. There are also whole houses floating offshore in the Gulf….some workers are “camping” there, but their companies send supply boats daily. Access still severely restricted, even for owners.

Inland, its mostly about how far you were from any water—rivers and bays, not just the Gulf.  So many houses in my neighborhood are uninhabited now. Of the 8-9 I can see now (no trees) from my second story, only one other is livable. 

Many are totalled, with maybe some walls standing, and others will take months to repair. Many large areas in Cape Coral still don’t have communication, and boil water notices are so common everywhere it’s just SOP now. At least it runs!

The debris piles are high as my house, replaced as soon as removed as construction progresses. That means smells, rats (the cat is happy!) and traffic problems. The worst thing, though, is seeing all the pieces of peoples’ lives—photos, clothes, trophies, toys, books, furniture, everything inside a flooded moldy house—dumped in a nasty sidewalk pile. It’s the first time ever houses flooded on my street.

DH tries constantly to rummage in debris piles  —and now we have the “flesh-eating bacteria” (vibrio) outbreak crowding ERs and urgent cares worse than covid. (different things, but in terms of crowding). People get more skin breaks with so much work going on... ER doc friend says she’s never seen so many amputations in such a short time, outside a war zone.

Doctors of any kind are almost impossible to see/find for months, short of hospital-level emergency. 

On the brighter side, we mostly all have power (not counting the beaches/islands) and most big-box places are open and well-stocked (although many “big” construction materials will take months). Plenty of gas. Roads cleared remarkably fast, and debris picked up, just not enough to keep up with need. But many small businesses are still closed, and the economic and job losses from no winter tourism has yet to register.

My own house did incredibly, unbelievably (to some neighbors) well and we are blessed on that front. Roof will take a while, but temp patched. All screens gone, bugs are bad, but it’s too hot to be out anyway . We are so so lucky. Water covered our first four steps, (lost car and lower garage contents) but stopped inches short of floor level. DH had a VERY hard time when we evacuated, even with family, but better now home. Now he doesn’t even know “hurricane”…one big meltdown over a repairman, but forgot soon. Also grateful for Seroquel….but I miss my neighbors, and our street’s activity. And I feel so sorry for those in facilities. I can’t imagine having to deal with that.

But, we did have to move/leave fast. If you live where “stuff” happens, just please please do all you can to prepare.

MaryG123

Thank you for the update Rescue mom.  What a relief that your home survived.  We lived through Hurricane Michael in 2018 and our neighborhood is just now starting to look like its new “normal”.  I’m sure it’s disorienting and heartbreaking for you to see your community hit so hard, and I can’t imagine what it would be like for someone with dementia.  The piles of debris are just horrifying.  I remember finally breaking down in tears one day about a month after the storm, and my stomach was in a knot for about a year.  Tough times.  Hugs to you. (()).

Ed1937

Thank you for the thread. When it is no longer the top story in the news, people tend to forget about how bad it might still be. I can't imagine how you all survived, especially when there are other people depending on you to take care of things. St Peter will save a spot for you and others like you. I know it's still a steep hill to climb to get everything back to normal, and I wish there were an easy fix, but we all know it will take a long time. I'm sorry.

Mint

Rescue nice to hear from you.  Wonder about the people in eastern Kentucky too.  Don’t know if anyone on here from that area or not.

dhyink

Rescue mom, I am sorry that you were affected by Ian.  Even if you were lucky in terms of your house, you are now putting up with things that add to your stress.   From my experience with Hurricane Harvey, it takes years to recover.   

My DH was newly diagnosed when our house flooded in Harvey.  I noticed a sudden decline in his functioning in the months after we were displaced.  He wandered into stranger's apartments, set fire to our stove, randomly gave away all the money in his wallet, etc.   Meanwhile, I was left alone to clean up the flooded house, fill out mountains of paperwork, find a trustworthy contractor, all while working full time and caring for DH.    It was so stressful, that I promised myself that I would move out of the hurricane zone and closer to my family.  We finally moved this fall!   For the first time in years, I don't have PTSD every time we have a heavy rainstorm.  

Everytime I see news of a flood, my heart goes out to the people affected.  Even if you have a plan, nothing prepares you for watching the water rise in your home.