ARCAN Members Frank Carroll, Mark Hague and Sumner Hutcheson III were all impacted by hurricanes in Florida. Here are their stories.

Frank Carroll has lived in Indian Shores, Florida for 20 years. It’s 10 miles south of Clearwater Beach on a barrier reef island, Sand Key. He says, “We live on the Gulf Intercoastal Water Way across the street - 225 steps - from the Gulf and we’ve been affected by hurricanes Helene, Milton and Debbie.” 

Helene caused three to five feet of water in the garage level of their 3-level town house. “We lost lots of tools and other stuff and had no access to the island or power for a few days,” said Frank. “In Milton we just lost a downspout.”

Cleanup is still a work in progress  Frank explained there is a lot of garage debris (and a few old Red Cross first aid kits), drywall in the garage and carpet on stairs to the living area will be removed in a few days.  “A few dollars of tools, kayak, workbench, compressor and other stuff all were under or in water for several hours,” said Frank.

“We’re grateful that we were and are safe. In Orlando for Helene we stayed at a Marriott owned property and we stayed downtown in St. Petersburg for Milton. I'm also happy to say that we were still able to produce the ARCAN Virtual Homecoming, even from my damaged home."

Mark Hague lives in Madeira Beach. He stayed for Helene and evacuated for Milton.

“We live in five story condo. While most units did ok, some did not. We had some water come into our unit from the rainfall and that eventually caused some of the back patio to incur water damage,” said Mark. “Our property suffered a lot of landscape damage with trees and bushes down. The garage on the ground floor had up to four feet of storm surge. We lost both of our vehicles and 22 in total were lost within our 48 condo units.”

Mark said they need to reconstruct their patio where tiles were damaged. They are also going to proactively put in hurricane windows in the only one that was not updated in the last five years. “I’m grateful for no lives lost and surprised by the power of the water and wind. So much damage.” 

Sumner Hutcheson III lives in Ocoee, Florida in the center of the state. 

“I am a native Floridian, so I know what to expect with hurricanes. My biggest surprise in the past few years has been the size and strength of these storms.” 

Hurricane Helene’s greatest impact was to the west and north of Sumner, but he said Milton was a different story. “Milton crossed the state directly over our area. I had broken tree limbs, and it destroyed part of my wood fence. There was no damage to my home. The fence was replaced within two weeks.”