Life after three consecutive hurricanes

AccuWeather

AccuWeather's Leslie Hudson speaks with a woman in Florida who was forced to rebuild after hurricane Ian and invented a smart way to endure the power of future hurricanes.

Transcript

00:00It's still no power. Three years later, we'll get there.

00:05For Rachel Pierce, life doesn't just imitate art.

00:08It's become her reality after being hit not by one, but three hurricanes three years in a row.

00:16Everything was underwater. All my windows were smashed out. All my inventory gone.

00:20I mean, we didn't even have flooring. I'm like, where did the flooring go?

00:23Hurricane Ian sent a 13-foot storm surge across Sanibel Island in 2022.

00:29Devastating this barrier island and others along Florida's southwest coast.

00:34This is our Ian water line. The water was actually a lot higher than that.

00:38Now, as a new hurricane season begins, Rachel Pierce is ready for whatever Mother Nature brings to her corner of paradise.

00:46So we let the water in and we let it out. Everything's waterproof.

00:49If I can't beat Mother Nature, I'm just going to let Mother Nature come through.

00:51So that's what we're doing. And it worked.

00:53Pierce says her floors were completely washed away, as well as most of her original artwork.

00:59The walls of her studio were also destroyed, forcing her to reinvent island living.

01:05I did the epoxy floors. We did stucco walls.

01:08Pierce says the island became a tight-knit community after dealing with three hurricanes in those three years,

01:14selling their wares in her parking lot until stores could reopen,

01:17with a resolve to endure whatever the next hurricane season might bring.

01:23All of our eggs are in this basket, and we love this basket.

01:26This is our island. We love the way of life out here.

01:28We love the community out here.

01:30And not coming back was never an option.

01:32For AccuWeather, I'm Leslie Hudson reporting.

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