TALLAHASSEE, Florida – Hurricane Helene is here and all people who evacuated from their homes can do is watch. Literally.
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Earl Williams and his neighbor Sam DePaul evacuated to a hotel in Tallahassee from their coastal community in Carrabelle, Florida.
They’re here physically, but their eyes never left the driveway.
Williams has a generator powering security cameras at his house. It’s that live feed from his home that have both of them glued to the tiny screen.
“It’s a combination of emotions, you know,” Williams said. “My gut is swirling. It’s a lot of my stomach is tied in knots.”
DePaul isn’t able to check in on his home. The community they live in lost power around 7:40 p.m. and he doesn’t have a backup generator like Williams.
“This is our first hurricane,” DePaul said. “So, really figured we might the way they were building it up, it was best just to play it safe.”
“We’ve had years of near misses,” Williams added. “This one looks like it’s going to be a bull’s eye. No miss in this one.”
While they’ve collected and hauled out their most valuable items, insurance papers and heirlooms, there’s still no way to potentially say goodbye to the place they’ve spent so much of their lives.
Gage Goulding: “There’s no sugarcoating it. Yeah. You could see up to 20ft of storm surge. Have you thought about what that could do to your homes?
Sam DePaul: “That’s what that’s what you got insurance for. And as long as we’re living, I guess, and not hurt, if the house can get repaired.”
Earl Williams: “The wife and I have made peace with the possibility that the house will be destroyed. But, making peace with this, you know, is one of those. How do you really make peace with something like that? The house is full of memories. And for all that to just just be blown away. You do the best you can to make peace with it.”
Both are hopeful they’ll be able to make it back to their homes on Friday to see what Helene has left behind.