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Marianna Mom: Real Life After Hurricane Michael

by Ali Wiggins

If you think a little rain and some wind rolled through here, you’re wrong.

If you think since folks are getting their power turned back on everything’s fine now, you’re wrong.

If you’ve seen some pictures and think you know what it feels like to live it because you’ve seen a hurricane before, you’re wrong.

Travel 45 minutes to the east or west of us and things are probably back to normal again.

If I hear one more person say that they have seen a few hurricanes and then proceed to tell me how bad they were…. well, this wasn’t just a hurricane. It was the third strongest hurricane to hit the US in recorded history.

I don’t care what hurricane you’ve seen, you ain’t seen bad! If you were alive in 1935 and saw the “Labor Day” hurricane hit the FL Keys, or in Mississippi in 1969 to see Camille, then we’ll talk. If not, you have no clue.

If you are seeing the national news about Panama City and Mexico Beach, we are close to the same. The storm never really slowed down much or weakened when it left them. It hit us full force and we are 60 or so miles inland.  Jackson and Calhoun counties were hit just as hard.

Folks are living with generators, gas cans, sometimes rationed gasoline if you can find a place that sells it.

Curfews. Only two times of day: daylight and dark. People are living in tents, their cars, friend’s homes, hotels.

You don’t go to the store, you get in line at the PODs. We have long lines for water, MREs, tarps, bug spray, and baby diapers. You could be the wealthiest guy around and it wouldn’t matter. There are very few places to spend it. It’s cash only purchases,  no fast food, no ATMs. The stores that are open are only open from sun up to sun down. So you can forget picking up a gallon of milk on your way home. Winn Dixie closes at 5 now and Walmart probably not long after that.

We have no idea what’s going on outside of this bubble because we have no internet, no phones, no cell service, no television.

We live with our windows wide open and no air conditioning.

We have people from all over the nation here, most of them to help us. We are so thankful for them all. Those folks came here with good intentions, to get us back up and running.

But everyone that came here isn’t here to help.  How do you know for sure which is which? We have looters and scammers. Some just walk up behind you in your own yard while you’re hanging your laundry on the clothesline and scare the mess out of you just asking if you need help with a downed tree. That fellow snuck right up behind me. He should’ve hollered from his truck. NOT COOL! You can’t tell who belongs in your neighborhood or not.

You carry a pistol with you at all times just in case you guessed wrong on whether they are a good guy or a bad guy.

Now it’s time for bed. The whole family piles up in one room with air mattresses, fans, open windows and firearms in case someone decides they need your generator, gas cans or food more than you do. You can’t sleep because you hear every single noise outside. You hear every siren and you cringe with each one. Flashlights in the dark? It could be a lineman or a boogie man, you don’t know!

You go a week and then realize you haven’t seen nor heard one bird because there are no trees left. All the trees are on the ground, and I mean ALL of them. And all the creatures that lived in them are now everywhere. Yellow jackets and mosquitoes that look like they’re from Jurassic Park.

The sounds of chainsaws, diesel trucks, helicopters, sirens, and generators are a constant.

The death toll continues to rise. Many deaths aren’t from the storm. Folks are dying in the clean up of this storm. Houses are burning down as some folks get power turned back on and all the history that they’ve held are now gone with them.

Debris piles are taller than the homes they sit in front of. One lane roads and downed power lines everywhere. AND THIS IS DAY 15!!

The depression this brings is real. No one here is dreaming this up. You couldn’t even if you tried. If you think you could handle all this and go right on like nothing happened, you are welcome to set up camp here in Jackson County, Florida. I will give you my spot. I would love to see how you fair. Everywhere else in the world seems to be business as usual. Not here!

We are all now using the phrase, “new normal”. I hate it. I liked my old normal just fine, as crazy as it was. I’ve cried. I’ve thrown things. I’ve screamed. And I’ve cried some more. My heart hurts for so many people right now. And my family’s loss is nowhere near what some people have experienced. They’ve lost it all. We still have our family and our home. It is a little damaged, but still in tact. So many don’t.

This wasn’t just a hurricane. This destroyed the lives of thousands of people. We post a dozen or more things a day on social media to help folks find what they are looking for, whether it be a place to wash clothes, a hot meal, clothes for their kids. We post what we are living. This is all we can think about and social media is our only way out.

This last 15 days have been awful. And if you can pick right up and get back to it already, then good for you. I’m having a little trouble with that right now. It still looks like a war zone here. Things won’t ever be the same again. I’ve tried so hard to be positive for the last two weeks.

Now on day 15, I’m tired. My muscles ache from cutting trees and hauling fence. I wasn’t cut out for this. I’ve got poison ivy and ant bites. I’m pissed and I wish this was all just a bad dream. And I really, really miss Netflix.

Day 15 has been a bad one for me. Day 16, I know, will be better.

Thank y’all for your prayers and your support. Thank you for letting the folks in the Panhandle of Florida know we aren’t forgotten. We are tough and determined. It is just how we were made. We will come back from this. I don’t know when, but with all the help that has shown up here in the last two weeks, how could we not?

Thank you all and much love from from Jackson County.

Ali Wiggins is a lifelong resident of Jackson County, which encompasses Marianna, Sneads and Cottondale.  She is the mother of two and works as director of sales are marketing for a pharmacy company.

Pictured: Hurricane Michael damage in Marianna. Photos by SPC Jeffrey Scott Hagan for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge. For more photos by Hagan, click here.