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After the flood

Some will rebuild, some will move on

Jesse Hollett
Posted 9/27/17

MIDDLEBURG – For 75-year-old Mary Sue Goble, Hurricane Irma turned a home cast in memories into one sunken in time.

Outside, her refrigerator sits on the curb covered in mud, bound by masking …

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After the flood

Some will rebuild, some will move on


Posted

MIDDLEBURG – For 75-year-old Mary Sue Goble, Hurricane Irma turned a home cast in memories into one sunken in time.

Outside, her refrigerator sits on the curb covered in mud, bound by masking tape and covered in magnets with phone numbers and reminders scribbled on post-it notes. Her possessions sit on her lawn organized like a garage sale.

Inside, rising floodwaters lifted garbage, clothing and furniture then deposited items randomly about her home as water receded roughly five days later.

She and her family have spent a great deal of time cleaning after the hurricane, but she is unsure whether her home will recover.

Federal Emergency Management Agency officials measured the water level inside Goble’s home at four feet, eight inches. She doesn’t have federal flood insurance.

She spent Tuesday sorting into piles the contents of her house – glassware, trinkets, clothing, heirlooms.

“Everything – I’ve lost everything,” Goble said. “Everything, even my automobiles are gone, everything is gone.”

Loss is a kinship Goble shares with many neighbors along Black Creek.

Emergency personnel rescued at least 350 people from rooftops and porches across the county. According to the county, the storm affected at least 858 homes. A total of 275 of those homes were destroyed while others sustained either major or minor damage.

Among the homes in Clay County hardest hit by Hurricane Irma are on the banks of Black Creek, a tributary of the St. Johns River that winds through Middleburg to Fleming Island.

There, floodwaters rose at record-breaking heights and speeds. Rising a foot and a half an hour Sept. 10, the floodwaters were a result of about 14 inches of rain and storm surge that crested on the creek at 28.5 feet. The water spilled over bulkheads and roused residents in their sleep to find that their homes had become aquariums.

“The house is gutted and we’re living elsewhere,” said Black Creek resident Scott Sullenger. “Everything is ruined, but we all lived.”

Sullenger has lived along the creek for 25 years and said his house has never come close to flooding before. While the waters spared others on his street whose homes sit elevated, Sullenger’s home abuts the creek. Floodwaters rose and filled his home with between three and four feet, he said.

He didn’t evacuate, and instead rode out the floodwaters until they receded in his treehouse suspended several feet in the air.

Many residents don’t want to leave the creek purchase flood insurance, while others don’t have a choice but to abandon their damaged homes.

Over two weeks after the storm, many Black Creek dwellers find themselves trying to rebuild. Some have their recourse planned, while others say there’s still too much uncertainty as insurance adjustors and disaster relief agencies parse through claims and forms.

Meanwhile, residents take stock of their damages.

Jody Erickson and his family were lucky. Their home rests on four-foot stilts above their drive-in garage. While his home was not flooded, his garage was filled with the deep brown creek water. His swimming pool turned into a fishing hole until he doused it with chlorine.

An insurance adjustor is set to come by his house in the next few days and assess the damages. The rising floodwaters lifted a backyard gazebo off its foundation and laid it on his crushed bulkhead. His dock now sags into the creek waters.

Missing is a section of a black floating dock. He’s looked around the river as best he can for it, but figures it washed somewhere further downstream. He hopes a good Samaritan will return it.

He’s spent nearly two weeks gutting the drywall and items from his garage.

He said it’s too early to put a price tag on the damages. Erickson has applied for FEMA disaster relief, but has yet to hear back.

It’s too soon for many to quantify the damages. For many, lost heirlooms and memories mean the most.

Goble’s stepdaughter Michele Goble managed to save cherished photos from the floodwaters. She said the situation was eerie for her husband, who grew up in their family home on Byron Road. However, some heirlooms could not be saved.

Mary Sue’s husband died seven years ago, and she hoped to pass his tools on to their son, however, the flooding ended that promise.

“We lost them,” she said. “The rust has set in, the mildew has set in.”

For those that stay, they hope to make new memories on the creek. Those who will inevitably abandon their homes will plant roots elsewhere.

When asked if she would leave after nearly 50 years on the creek, she proved that while the water in her home needs to evaporate, her humor doesn’t.

“I might” move, she said. “Heck yeah, to a mountain top this time.”