Port St. Lucie: After Irma

While Hurricane Irma hit the state of Florida extremely hard, some of the counties fared better than others. Fortunately for many people (including some of my close family members) in Port St. Lucie, the county did not suffer as much damage as other places in the state. Some power lines were down for a while, but overall the storm did not cause as much damage as people had feared. It was still wise for people to evacuate prior to Irma, but most who did leave Port St. Lucie were fortunate to return to find their homes still intact.

According to most reports, including St. Lucie County received about 20 inches of rain, and the beaches at Fort Pierce saw two to three feet of erosion, but the damage was fortunately no more severe than that. An estimated eighty-percent of the county, or 110,000 people, were without power for several days after the storm. Because of the outages, most government buildings and schools were closed for several days after Irma, and some businesses like Port St. Lucie law firms, banks, and other businesses had to close for a few days as well.

For those who stayed during the hurricane, the winds and rain were quite severe. Many people reported that they had never seen anything like it, and in a state where hurricanes are common, that was a surprising thing to hear. Gusts in St. Lucie were measured at 100 miles-per-hour, so it must have been a scary event to live through!

Local officials urged people to stay indoors and not go outside in the immediate aftermath of the storm, so those who stayed had to rely on the food and water that they had stockpiled after the storm. While some people reported that they were happy they stayed in their homes, others were relieved to get the evacuation order in time to leave the city and find a calmer, safer place to stay during the storm.

My family is hoping that the city can quickly rebuild and return to normal following Hurricane Irma, and we will see how long it takes them to get on their feet. For anyone who hasn’t visited the area, St. Lucie County is an amazing place to vacation, and I highly recommend visiting once the tourism industry is revived. If there’s one thing we’ve learned about people in the U.S. (and Florida, especially, in my opinion), is that they are able to bounce back after a disaster like Hurricane Irma, and they will be stronger than they were before the storm.