- Rick Shiver said Hurricane Milton damaged the awning and ductwork of his Port Orange, Florida, home.
- FEMA transferred him a total of $9,166 for repairs eight days after he applied for aid, Shiver said.
- He feels lucky he got help so fast and plans to keep living in the area, unlike one of his neighbors.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Rick Shiver, a 72-year-old retired firefighter in Port Orange, part of the Daytona Beach metropolitan area on Florida's Atlantic Coast. The following conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
I live in Port Orange, Florida. I'm originally from St. Augustine and moved here five years ago. I was getting ready to start chemo, and I wanted to have a place where I didn't have to do yard work.
It's a two-bedroom, two-bathroom manufactured home, and I managed to get it for $20,500. The previous owner had passed away.
This is the first time I've ever evacuated. I was a firefighter in Daytona Beach for 25 years, and we were never allowed to because we always had to work during the storms. But this time, it kind of scared me. So I went to a little town called DeLand, just west of here, and stayed with my daughter for a couple of days.
A lot of the Port Orange area was underwater. There will be houses that will be demolished.
I couldn't even get into my house for three days because the water was so high. When I finally could, I saw twisted metal from the awning. It used to stick out in the front of the house. It was completely gone, just a few upright posts still standing.
Fortunately, my house sits at the highest spot in the neighborhood, so my water damage was minimal, but I had a lot of wind damage. My gutters were ripped out.
I had never applied for FEMA aid before. So I had no clue what to expect.
I was shocked that I got money from FEMA so fast
I didn't have electricity initially. Even when I did, from my generator, the Wi-Fi wasn't working. The day it came back on, I filed online with FEMA for money to repair the damage and wrote them a description. The answers were pretty cut-and-dried. They assigned me a case number.
I submitted the application on Monday, October 14. On October 21, the inspector came by. He was here for about 15 minutes. The ductwork for the AC has to be completely taken out and replaced. The awning has to be rebuilt and all that metal replaced.
He took some pictures, looked everything over, and the next day I had money in the bank. That was eight days after I filed.
Altogether, I was given $9,166.
I had no clue how long it would take to get the money, but I was expecting it to be a month or two before I got anything back.
Have you experienced damage from hurricanes or other disasters and applied for help from FEMA? We'd love to hear about it. Please email reporter Dan Latu at [email protected].
The quickness helped — the air ducts will be moldy in there shortly if I don't get them fixed. And I'm not the least bit interested in breathing in mold for the rest of my life.
I don't know if the $9,166 will cover everything, but I can tell you it's going to help. I was really thankful for what I got. I've never gotten anything from the government, so this was nice.
If I don't have enough to do all the repairs that need to be done, then I'll just pay myself. But that's fine, I'm happy to have any help at all.
The government's done a great job. I'm a registered Democrat, and I think the information being spread from a former president is all BS, because FEMA works and it works well.
People might start to leave Florida, but I want to be near my grandkids
We've been fortunate. Over the years, we've had a bunch of hurricanes and missed some bad ones. With how intense this flooding was, it's fortunate that we haven't had more deaths.
It's been a rough month. I believe people will be leaving this area.
One neighbor came by after the storm. He could hear that I had a generator and knocked on my door asking if he could charge his phone. I let him in. When he was finished, he said they're moving back up to Pennsylvania. He said they can't take it anymore. He meant it.
I initially thought I might need to move. I'm 72 and can't keep doing this every couple of years. But my children live here, I get to see my grandchildren. I'm not going to move away from them.