INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — The low hum of gas-powered generators. Chainsaw sharpening begins. The rustle of branches being dragged across yards and thrown onto already high piles of rubble.
Those telltale sounds of disaster recovery filled the air south of Vero Beach Sunday morning, four days after tornadoes tore through the area ahead of Hurricane Milton.
While the National Weather Service is still confirming how many tornadoes hit the Treasure Coast that evening and overnight, one of the suspected tornadoes tore roofs off homes, downed trees and knocked out power in the Vero Beach Highlands neighborhood.
Diane Steele and her husband have lived in their home in the Highlands neighborhood since 2016. Steele was cleaning up her yard on Sunday. Her house, like many others in the area, had a blue tarp covering the roof. On Wednesday, a tree branch fell straight through and landed in their living room, she said.
“Like a freight train going over the roof, it was so loud, and it was like bombs were falling all around us,” Steele said. ‘It’s gone through the roof there. We have a really big gaping hole in our living room.”
Next door, Denise D’Alessio huddled in the hallway with her daughter.
“I was sitting in my garage and of course the door was closed because we’d had heavy rain, and I started this ‘pop. pop. pop.’ against the garage door, and it got faster and harder to the point that the garage door was shaking. I couldn’t get into the house fast enough,” D’Alessio said I get emotional and have flashbacks – it was the most terrifying moment. The most helpless feeling, knowing that if anything happened I couldn’t help my daughter.”
Steele and D’Alessio both described the fear they felt over the course of about seven minutes as the storm passed.
“It was terrifying,” Steele said.
“I get goosebumps just talking about it. It was so scary,” D’Alessio said.
The area is still without power and Steele said they have been told it could be a few more days before that changes.
“We have no power. Everything is gone. We have no satellite. We have nothing,” Steele said.
Some homes were more damaged than others, but everyone in the Highlands neighborhood has been involved in the cleanup efforts, Steele said.
‘The neighborhood helped. People we don’t even know helped us,” Steele said.
“Luckily we have great neighbors,” D’Alessio said.
Help has also come from outside the area. Caitlin Kennedy, of Vero Lake Estates, posted on Facebook after the tornadoes that she, her husband and her son wanted to help bring food to some of the hardest-hit neighborhoods. On Sunday, she was joined by about 10 volunteers in the neighborhood clubhouse parking lot, where they distributed donated food to those in need.
“I only know a few of these people. These were all people who volunteered on Facebook. They just wanted to help,” Kennedy said.
More: Hurricane Milton: Deadly, devastating storm impacts felt along the Treasure Coast
More: Hurricane Milton: Lakewood Park Methodist Church damaged, but continues its mission
Some people Kennedy spoke to lost everything in the storm, she said.
“We were fortunate that we weren’t affected. Our house is still standing and some of these people are facing the greatest devastation of their lives. We just wanted to come together as a community and try to help in any way we could,” said Kennedy . said. “I know it’s not much, but hopefully it will help someone.”
In the coming days, Kennedy plans to do the same in other hard-hit areas, she said.
Wicker Perlis is TCPalm’s Watchdog reporter for St. Lucie County. You can reach him at wicker.perlis@tcpalm.com.
This article originally appeared in Treasure Coast Newspapers: Recovery underway on Treasure Coast, days after Milton tornadoes hit area
