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Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.
Slowly but surely Texas, Louisiana and Florida are returning to normal following two hurricanes — Harvey and Irma – that together caused an estimated over $200 billion in damages to homes, businesses and public infrastructure. Mother nature doled out a pretty good hit, and isn’t finished yet in this heavy 2017 hurricane season.
President Donald Trump and his team from the Federal Emergency Management Agency have visited the stricken areas three times and remain working along with state and local officials to provide resources to clear debris from roads, restore power and water. Much work remains as some homes and businesses are still flooded while others remain without power. Electrical workers from around the U.S. have descended upon Texas, Louisiana and Florida to help. Each day thousands more homes and businesses are brought back online in an amazing display of national unity fully supported by FEMA and Trump’s team.
The lower Florida Keys opened Sunday for home and business owners to return to assess their damages, file insurance claims and begin the long road back to normal. For those without any insurance and lacking resources to rebuild, this will truly be the end of the road.
Key West itself sustained moderate damages while the central Keys were devastated when the eye of Category-4 Hurricane Irma passed over the central Keys from Key Largo to Big Pine Key. Estimates say some 90 percent of homes and businesses were destroyed in this section of tropical paradise.
Although the overall death count remains low, eight nursing home residents in Hollywood, Florida died of neglect when air conditioning systems failed. This incident is being investigated by local and state law enforcement. The home was located across the street from a fully functioning hospital, but no one from the nursing home facility called 911 to report the ongoing emergency, according to news reports.
On the other hand, heart-warming stories of survival and resourcefulness continue to be reported in the media about neighbors helping neighbors and strangers helping strangers throughout the three states. Here’s an account of one such story of a restaurant owner who lost nearly a week of business and thousands of dollars in food in Palatka, a small town located in Northeast Florida on the banks of the St. Johns River that experienced record-setting flooding from storm surge when Hurricane Irma passed through the area late Sept. 9.
Meet Pizzaboyz located downtown near the Putnam County Courthouse on St. Johns Avenue. Ever since 2005, Pizzaboyz — which seats about 150 people — has been serving the best pizza and Italian food around. This popular eatery is ground zero for the greater public-safety community. This is where cops of all descriptions, firefighters, military vets and other emergency folks hang out with their families and friends to discuss local politics and everything else under the sun. The place doesn’t get robbed much. I think one guy tried that a few years back and it didn’t go well. But when Hurricane Irma went by, the lights went out on Pizzaboyz but hope never dimmed.
Pizzaboyz owner Jeannie Ely is the wife of a local former police officer turned current assistant district attorney, Alex Sharp. Despite losing a lot of business that week, Ely took care of her nine employees without consideration of the bottom line.
“Most people don’t realize this but my wife solely owns and runs the downtown restaurant, Pizzaboyz. I have nothing to do with the business other than getting free lunches and hanging out a lot,” said Sharp
Last Saturday, she wisely decided to shut down the restaurant a day early in order to allow staff to go home and prepare for Hurricane Irma. With power out from Saturday night until the following Thursday, Pizzaboyz lost days of revenue and thousands of dollars in perishable food products.
Sharp said in a Facebook post. “So the entire staff for this Friday’s payday only had two days of work for their pay checks. Many of them still are without power. Without a second thought, my sweet wife paid everyone a full week’s salary! I love my wife and I think she deserves some accolades for doing the right thing … Jeannie took care of her people.”
Pizzaboyz is only one example among thousands of others involving people doing the right thing in the face of adversity without regard to color or creed. Rebuilding efforts in Texas, Louisiana and Florida seem be to progressing as fast as anyone could expect. These areas will soon experience a building boon to their local economies as insurance claims are paid and federal disaster relief funds flow into local communities fixing roads and washed out bridges, restoring water systems and opening schools.
In these recovery efforts — politics and criticisms of President Trump — have mostly taken a back seat. Sure the president’s forever critics are still at it non-stop including main stream media. But on the outside looking in it’s nice to see liberal Democrats working with the president in providing emergency funding and in other matters while remembering the most important things in life are helping one another during those times when hope seems lost.
P.S. Tropical storm Maria became a hurricane Sunday afternoon and is barreling along a similar course as Hurricane Irma, threatening Florida and points along the Atlantic coast. Hurricane season ain’t over until it’s over.
About the Author
Britt Nelson relocated to Costa Rica in 2011 from Florida, where he served as news editor for the Palatka Daily News, a newspaper owned by the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group (NYT-RNG) for 20 years.
Nelson served the NYT-RNG for 18 years in Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida as a correspondent, reporter, staff writer, senior staff writer training new reporters, copy editor, page designer, editorial writer, editorial page editor and editorial board member.
