- September 28, 2024
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Angela Abrams is still “piecemealing” her life back together since Hurricane Debby flooded her home Aug. 5 in Summerfield Bluffs.
While Lakewood Ranch made it through Hurricane Helene relatively unscathed, its arrival less than two months after Hurricane Debby stirred up additional anxiety in many residents and left emotional scars.
“We have a neighborhood group chat, and everybody was checking the river depth and checking this and checking that,” Abrams said. “Everybody was freaking out. There was a lot of panic and stress.”
Various studies show that trauma caused by hurricanes can lead to anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Lakewood Ranch psychiatrist Stacy Greeter said she sees it in her practice, and it's very valid.
“Our brains are wired to hang onto and retain things that are scary,” she said. “It’s a survival mechanism so we avoid that thing in the future, but that can backfire for us in modern life when we get extremely anxious even when we’re not actually under threat.”
Abrams said she was “glued to the TV” as Hurricane Helene approached. Then, after seeing the devastation, she wanted to help others. She spent hours compiling a list of things that she learned after Hurricane Debby flooded her home.
“Just knowing what they’re about to get into is very traumatic for me to watch,” Abrams said. “I don’t think I'll ever be able to survive hurricane season again without some trauma.”
Greeter said media coverage can heighten trauma with sensationalized headlines and coverage “meant to hook you into a place of fear and anxiety.”
She suggested limiting exposure to news media leading into a storm. Instead, think about the basic information you need and focus on that. For example, do you need to evacuate? Seek that information.
Manatee County maintains an Extreme Weather Dashboard that contains pertinent information for residents at MyManatee.org/storm.
The National Weather Service suggests learning the local geography and how to track storms because knowing where a storm is and where it's heading can make severe weather less stressful.
But for Abrams, she now has a new list of concerns when a storm is looming in the gulf. She said all the worst-case scenarios came to mind before Hurricane Helene passed through.
She worried about her house, with its newly rebuilt walls, and flooding all over again. She worried about something happening to the temporary home they’re living in. She worried about friends having to go through what she’s going through, and she worried about her children.
“I don’t think people realize how much it affects your kids,” Abrams said. “My friend’s house flooded in Nokomis. I told her not to let her daughter see all her things destroyed. It’s just so overwhelming.”
Abrams has a toddler and two teenagers. She said the whole family was scared as Hurricane Helene approached, but it was particularly hard on her 13-year-old daughter Leah.
The Abrams family is rebuilding and hopes to be home for Christmas, but Abrams said she would probably leave the house behind if it flooded again. She doesn’t think she could mentally handle the stress a second time around.
Lynn Meder doesn’t worry about her home in Myakka City during hurricanes because it was built “like a bomb shelter,” but she sees the stress escalating in her customers. Meder owns Uniquely Yours, a gift shop next to the Silver Star Restaurant.
She said storm anxiety started escalating after Hurricane Ian hit the area in 2022.
“It was right over us, and it lasted for 20 hours,” Meder said. “People are still weary from that.”
With Hurricane Helene arriving so soon after Hurricane Debby, she said there was no time in between, so people are feeling the drain of living in an almost constant state of preparation.
On the other hand, being constantly prepared is how Meder has managed her storm stress since her home was built off MJ Road 20 years ago.
The property was chosen because it’s in a high spot. The house was built with cement and rebar. There’s a generator for power outages and a pond with a dry hydrant to put out fires.
It was built to “last 100 years” and survive a litany of disasters. The living quarters are on the second floor. The garage downstairs has hurricane proof doors. The only damage left after Hurricane Ian was downed trees.
Meder also keeps a healthy stock of water and canned goods in the house.
“Being prepared definitely helps (ease the stress) because we’re not waiting for something to happen," she said. "We’re ready for it.”
Not everyone can be as prepared as Meder. Manatee County reported that rescue workers evacuated more than 300 people during Hurricane Helene, and the 3-1-1 call center took a “record breaking” 4,200-plus calls from Sept. 24 at 4:30 p.m. when they declared a state of emergency to Sept. 27 at noon.
Out of those calls for assistance, 3-1-1 Supervisor Marcia Bacon said no one called for help with storm-related anxiety, but they could have. She remembered a stressed out caller from a few years ago.
Bacon couldn’t remember which hurricane it was, but the gentleman asked to talk to someone because he was scared. He didn’t want to go to a shelter, he just wanted someone to help calm him down over the phone.
She gave him the number for what was Manatee Glens at the time. Now, operators refer callers to 9-8-8, a suicide and crisis line.
“It's not just for suicide,” Bacon said of 9-8-8. “It’s for any kind of crisis or stressful situation you’re going through. We give that number out, and there’s a counselor there to help.”
According to Bacon, most of the 3-1-1 calls received at the start of any storm are about sandbags and evacuation levels.
The afternoon of Sept. 27, she said callers just wanted to get home. The questions coming in were “Is this road flooded,” “Are the bridges open,” and “When will the water and electricity be back on?”
County staff members are citizens, too. They have families and homes to protect, but they have to rotate being locked down in the Emergency Operations Center during hurricane season. The entire staff is cross-trained to perform emergency duties.
The 3-1-1 call center was made up of staff from Development Services, Administration and Human Resources.
The employees are performing outside their typical roles, and they’re separated from their loved ones during a crisis. Bacon said stress management is part of the 3-1-1 training.
Chief of Emergency Management Matt Myers explained the stress that’s involved in fielding so many calls from people in distress and the necessity of taking a break when feeling overwhelmed by it.
Chief of Staff Andy Butterfield was a helicopter pilot in the Navy, so leaving his wife for the EOC isn’t much different than having to fly a helicopter north before a hurricane.
“You’re doing good for others,” Butterfield said, “But you have to abandon the people who are the closest to you.”
