Floods destroy mobile homes

BROOKSVILLE –
Troy Fielder opened his eyes Sunday morning and his bed was moving.

It was actually floating — in about 2 feet of water.

The 84-year-old grabbed a shirt and a pair of slacks, put his medicine in a high, dry place and sorted through a few other items in the house, said his son-in-law Richard Gray. He even took the time to fill the bottom of his refrigerator with water in the hopes it would sink to the floor and remain upright.

Gray said he wished Fielder had gotten out of the house as soon as he could. Tropical Storm Debby ruined almost everything inside Fielder’s home.

“He was probably in shock,” Gray said.

Fielder’s frightened cats were at the foot of the bed. He had to leave them behind.

Fielder said he went outside and trudged his way through the front yard. A couple of men who noticed him struggling in the water ran to help him. By the time they made it to the oak tree in the front yard, the water was chest level, he said.

Fielder’s 1-acre property is along the east side of U.S. 41 a short distance north of Powell Road.

Fielder was hospitalized for a cut on his foot. He sat in Gray’s pickup Wednesday morning and watched a sheriff’s deputy navigate around the house in a boat. The deputy and a couple of officers from Hernando County Animal Services were trying to rescue Fielder’s cats.

The water was still high — only a few feet below the eaves.

The car, pickup and RV parked next to the house were all destroyed.

The notorious “no-name storm of 1993” and the hurricanes that pelted the area in 2004 and 2005 didn’t cause the same level of flooding along U.S. 41, according to those whose houses were invaded by floodwater Sunday.

“I’ve lived here for 50 years and it’s never flooded before,” Fielder said.

He never signed up for flood insurance.

Fielder, who Gray said is suffering from early onset Alzheimer’s, didn’t have a contingency plan in the event of a natural disaster.

The American Red Cross is offering him a hotel room for three days. Relatives who have come in from out of town will be staying for about a week and he will join them.

That means he only knows where he will be during the next 10 days. Fielder said he isn’t sure what he will do afterward.

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Ed Wirtz and his family have owned the Imperial Estates mobile home park along Powell for the better part of four decades.

He said the Florida Department of Transportation elevated U.S. 41 after a series of storms flooded the highway. Those road improvements had consequences — and they were felt Sunday after nearly 10 percent of the homes within the park were flooded, Wirtz said.

Eleven homes were destroyed. A couple of more had porch damage as a result of the seeping water.

A Hernando County sheriff’s deputy drove along the waterlogged roads in a SWAT Hummer on Wednesday morning. It was the only vehicle that could make it through the neighborhood.

The sewage system at the park has failed.

“We helped a few people get out, but that’s really all we could do,” said Woody Wirtz, who manages the property.

His residents have been calling him and knocking on his door seeking answers. He said he feels helpless.

On Wednesday, the deputy in the SWAT vehicle was looking at the homes on behalf of Hernando County Emergency Management, assessing the damage, Woody Wirtz said.

His father drove his SUV down Rappelo Drive as far as he could. A canoe was sitting in the grass a few feet from the sitting water, which was still more than a foot deep. That’s the only means the Wirtz family had to get to the flooded homes.

The road that intersects Rappelo — Kim Drive — was completely underwater. All of the homes along the street were damaged.

Ed Wirtz wanted to take a shortcut to get to the northern portion of the park, but the access road was flooded. He started driving slowly across the grass before his wheels started spinning. His SUV got stuck in the mud.

“You can see what we’re dealing with here,” he said.

* * * * *
Patricia Zander was staying with Klaus and Evelyn Kiefer after she befriended the couple at church. The retired nurse has lived the life of a gypsy in recent years, but her new friends wanted her to enjoy a roof over her head.

On Friday, Zander had gone to the post office to forward her mail to her new address.

She became homeless again 36 hours later.

“I always liked it here,” said Zander, who isn’t sure where she will go next. “It’s tucked away in a beautiful place with horse ranches and cow ranches.”

The water was about knee high inside the Kiefer home Sunday. Outside it was about groin high, the couple said.

They spend half the year in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia and the rest of the year in Brooksville. Now that the storm destroyed their winter home, they likely will spend more time in Virginia and about three months per year renting a place in Florida.

They are staying up the road at a friend’s house. The homeowner is a snowbird who spends her summers in New York. She told Evelyn Kiefer she was welcome to stay there for as long as they needed.

Kiefer said she was “in shock” after the house was destroyed, but they also knew not everyone is as privileged as they are. They at least have a place in Virginia to live.

Klaus Kiefer said he and his wife nearly sold the house a few years ago. They would have felt worse if they had gone through with it.

“We’re glad we didn’t put that burden on anybody,” he said.

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