A New Mexico family who relocated to Florida five years ago found themselves in the path of Hurricane Ian and the results were devastating.
Monica Thomas, her husband Eric, daughter Sage and son Jackson live in North Point, Florida. They were not in an evacuation zone until the hurricane shifted at the last minute and went directly over their home.
"I was in survival mode," Monica Thomas told KOAT. "I don't think I've been able to wrap my head around what's been going on. I was in flight or fight, you know? 'Make sure my family is ok' mode. The hurricane was going 8 miles per hour. It sounded like a train. We were scared. I don't know how to necessarily describe it without somebody going through it. It's been something else."
Thomas, who was born and raised in Albuquerque, said her family stayed in their home throughout the hurricane before being rescued by the National Guard and firefighters on kayaks and rescue vehicles. According to a GoFundMe page set up for the family, everyone is safe and they’ve secured temporary housing in Sarasota, but their home in North Point received significant damage.
"On our house, our roof, the sockets were lifted,” she said. “So, we'll need a new roof. We don't have any trees anymore in our backyard, which is ok-- but we have a transporter down. It split in three and we have our electrical box dangling on the side of our house. Our well water, the pump was ripped up and our filtration was also destroyed. We don't know when it will be back up, and if our well was contaminated or not due to the pumps being broken. We don't have water. We don't have electricity. We don't have our roof replacement. My son's bedroom is flooded. We don't have flood insurance. We're not in a flood zone."
Despite the difficult circumstance, Thomas is trying to stay positive. "It definitely is emotional trying to explain this to the kids,” she said. “Hopefully, as a community, we can all come together, and it gets better for us."
American Red Cross officials said they have volunteers from New Mexico headed to Florida to assist with the aftermath.