Last year, during Hurricane Idalia, part of Shawnda Palmer's roof ripped off and one of her bedrooms flooded from incoming rain.
"I just got a new roof put on," Palmer says.
Palmer lives in Perry, Florida. The city is reeling after Hurricane Helene slammed the community late Thursday night. The storm came about a month after Hurricane Debby hit the area and a little more than a year after Hurricane Idalia slammed the city as well. Residents are just beginning to survey the damage from Helene. And Palmer says soon they'll start looking for a way to rebuild once again. She says she's confident they can.
“It’ll be right back to normal. It might take some time—I can’t say in no time—but if everybody keeps on praying we’ll pull it off, one way or the other," Palmer says.
WFSU spoke with Palmer last year after Hurricane Idalia, and caught up with her again as she was making her way back into town following Helene. Palmer says she evacuated to Destin and is on "pins and needles" waiting to see the damage. She's heard from neighbors, things don't look good.
“ I have a lot of trees down," Palmer says. "As far as my house, I won’t know until I get there. My mom can’t even get into her house. My brother said tornadoes hit where they live. They got trees everywhere and lots of damage."
Palmer doesn’t have property insurance. She says that’s why it took her more than a year to get her roof fixed after it was damaged by Hurricane Idalia. She says most people she knows in Perry don't have insurance either. She says it’s too expensive and most of her friends and neighbors live in homes handed down through their family—meaning they don't have mortgages that require policies.
It's a complication that's likely to slow the community's recovery. But Palmer is confident residents will come together and get it done. She says despite living through three storms in about 13 months, Perry residents are resilient.
“That’s what they say when you come to Taylor County, is you get the soil on your feet, you won’t leave.”
