VERO BEACH, Fla. — At the Center Beach neighborhood of Vero Beach, the roads are flooded and barely passable. Front yards are littered with debris some of the homes are damaged. And the majestic oak trees that provided a canopy to provide shade from the afternoon sun, are virtually gone.
“I would say it’s almost like Armageddon,” Megan Raasvelt whose home was damaged a block away.
“A mess,” added 80-year-old Tom Howard describing his Cypress Avenue neighborhood, just two blocks from the beach.
On Wednesday, he was with his wife in their living room when he saw flying debris hit his front window.
“It actually put me in a state of shock, I kind of froze up,” says Mr. Howard, who is now coping with no electricity.
WPTV Reporter Dave Bohman saw a postal worker who looked like she’s on an obstacle course just to deliver the mail to the Howards while roofers were at his home restoring tiles that were blown off.
But, Tom Howard feels lucky, knowing others lost their lives in Wednesday’s tornado outbreak.
He lost a prized possession, his vintage Jaguar.
“The car was struck many times by many different branches and logs. We saw a log actually blown into the back seat and be sucked back out,” said Mr. Howard as he looked at his car. “It was really quite remarkable. You could probably make a case for a total loss.”
“We’re trying to have an attitude of gratitude,” said Megan Raasveldt who joined a group of friends to help clear debris from a friend’s yard.
The same group was at another home Friday and were at Ms. Raasveldt’s storm-damaged home Thursday.
“We keep passing it on, and we just keep on going until we’re as put together as we can,” she said.
Three blocks to the south, dozens of crews cleaned up the business district’s downed trees in front of the handful of bank branches, restaurants, and art galleries.
But on nearby Cypress Avenue. neighbors were told power could be restored by the middle of next week.
The cleanup will take longer.
