Communities Along Florida’s Big Bend Face Tough Choices After Three Hurricanes in 13 Months

A month ago, Brooke Hiers and her family left the emergency trailer they had called home since Hurricane Idalia devastated their fishing village of Horseshoe Beach in August 2023.

The family had just finished most of the electrical work on their rebuilt home, but their efforts—and their savings—came to nothing. Hurricane Helene ripped the newly renovated structure from its four-foot pilings, sending it floating into a neighboring yard.

“You always think, ‘Oh, there’s no way it can happen again,’” Hiers said. “I don’t know if anybody’s ever experienced this in the history of hurricanes.”

For the third time in just over a year, Florida’s Big Bend region has been hit by a hurricane, with Idalia, Category 1 Hurricane Debby in August 2024, and now Helene battering a 50-mile stretch of coastline. Hiers, who also sits on the Horseshoe Beach town council, said words like “unbelievable” no longer adequately capture the devastation.

“I’ve tried to use them all—catastrophic, devastating, heartbreaking. None of that explains what happened here,” she said.

The Cost of Living in Florida’s Big Bend

The repeated hits to this windswept part of Florida are forcing residents to confront the growing risks and costs of living in an area increasingly vulnerable to severe weather. Researchers say climate change is making storms stronger, but many here lack the means to adapt.

Homeowners like the Hiers cannot afford flood insurance, assuming it’s even available. With life savings washed away multiple times, their choices are stark—leave a community they have called home for generations, rebuild to meet modern codes, or switch to a mobile lifestyle. For those who stay, even makeshift solutions like recreational vehicles are out of financial reach.

The latest storm has left many residents in limbo—sleeping in cars, staying with relatives, or sheltering in what remains of their damaged homes. Janalea England, a resident of the nearby town of Steinhatchee, has taken matters into her own hands, converting her commercial fish market into a donation center. Residents come and go to collect water, food, diapers, clothing, and other essentials, just as they did after Idalia.

“I’ve never seen so many people homeless as what I have right now—not in my community,” England said. “They have nowhere to go.”

A Vulnerable Way of Life

Florida’s Big Bend is a sparsely populated stretch of coastline, known for its pine forests and salt marshes that stretch to the horizon. Unlike much of the Sunshine State, this area has avoided high-rise condos and strip malls, making it an affordable place for teachers, mill workers, and housekeepers to live close to the beach.

But that way of life is now threatened. Helene was so destructive that some residents were left with nothing more than the clothes they were wearing. Even sentimental items like Christmas ornaments were swept away.

“People didn’t even have a Christmas ornament to pick up or a plate from their kitchen,” Hiers said. “It was just gone.”

The lack of outside support has only added to residents’ frustration. England noted that while her sister, Lorraine Davis, recently lost her insurance coverage without explanation, federal assistance has been limited. “FEMA didn’t do much,” England said. “They lost everything with Idalia and were told, ‘Here, you can have a loan.’ I mean, where’s our tax money going then?”

After Three Storms, Residents Weigh Their Options

In the wake of Helene, some residents are losing the will to rebuild. Marinas have been destroyed, restaurants have collapsed, and many of the region’s vacation homes are in ruins. As a result, people who work as servers, commercial fishermen, and house cleaners have lost both their homes and their livelihoods. Even workers at the local sawmill and paper mill—two of the region’s largest employers—were laid off in the past year.

Now, a convoy of semi-trucks filled with hurricane relief supplies is camped out at the shuttered mill in the city of Perry, providing a stark reminder of the region’s precarious future.

Hud Lilliott, who worked at the mill for 28 years, recently lost both his job and his canal-front home in Dekle Beach. He and his wife Laurie are unsure how they will afford to rebuild and fear the town’s school, where Laurie teaches first grade, might also close as the area’s tax base disappears.

“We’ve worked our whole lives, and we’re so close to where they say the ‘golden years’,” Laurie said. “It’s like you can see the light, and it all goes dark.”

Dave Beamer, a resident of Steinhatchee, rebuilt his home after Idalia only to see it destroyed again by Helene. “I don’t think I can do that again,” he said. “Everybody’s changing their mind about how we’re going to live here.”

A New Plan for an Uncertain Future

The repeated storms have forced residents to rethink what it means to live in Florida’s Big Bend. Beamer plans to stay in Steinhatchee, but he will live in a camper, sheltering it under a pole barn to protect against future storms.

In Horseshoe Beach, Hiers is awaiting the arrival of a makeshift town hall—a double-wide trailer where town services will be offered for as long as possible. She and her husband are currently staying with their daughter, a 45-minute drive away.

“You feel like this could be the end of things as you knew it—of your town, of your community,” Hiers said. “We just don’t even know how to recover at this point.”

The Hiers plan to buy an RV and park it on the land where their home once stood. But they won’t be returning permanently until this year’s hurricane season is over.

“We can’t bear to do this again,” she said.