Michelle Meyers
In Motion Staff Writer
Scott Kelly looked down from the roof top of his egg shell colored house, shirtless, sweat dripping from his chin. He smiled. Luckily, this was one of his rentals and it stood empty when Hurricane Irma struck on Sept. 12. Losing half his roof was a small price to pay in comparison to losing a renter to its deadly winds and rain.
Irma spawned a tornado that brought devastation to the quiet Ormond Beach neighborhood, inhabited by many retirees. Kelly said it came from the Halifax River, splintered an old tree in half, cruised down Hernandez Avenue and went diagonally across North Ridgewood Avenue. It brought wind speeds estimated at 100 miles per hour. That powerful rotation tore two roofs off entirely, leaving one house marginally inhabitable and the other, totally uninhabitable.
Kelly’s neighbors, who remained in their damaged home, were emotionally traumatized but physically sound. The twister collided with a transformer directly in front of their house which sent shards of glass into their legs and the man’s scalp. His wife openly cried when recapping the fearful event,while glancing at the piles os debris where her kitchen once stood.
Scott was extremely thankful for a handkerchief-headed neighbor who volunteered to join him on the sweltering roof. He said most of his family lives in this area, but they were recovering from their own damage.
He smiled and said they would survive. “After all,” he said, “we are Kelly strong!”
That was just one of hundreds of stories of survival and neighbors helping neighbors as residents picked up the pieces following the largest storm Florida has seen in recent history.
For more ‘Hurricane Irma’ see centerspread.