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Soggy Everglades City Area Breathes A Sigh Of Relief

Tribune photo by MICHAEL SPOONEYBARGER

Stephen Boyd Johnson watches the rain from the back of his home in Plantation Island just outside of Everglades City.

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By BAIRD HELGESON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 19, 2008

CHOKOLOSKEE ISLAND - A neighbor awoke Buddy Baer from his seaside trailer about 4 a.m.

The water started to lap at the wheels of the travel trailer, and the neighbor knew he had to help his old Navy buddy move to higher ground before the tide and surge worsened from Tropical Storm Fay.

Gary McMillin used a Toyota pickup to pull the trailer about 50 feet to land a few feet higher.
"We were lucky it wasn't worse," said Baer, 57.

McMillin made a breakfast of sausage and eggs while his wife, Lynn, and Baer surveyed the damage and began with the cleanup on the island of small houses and mobile homes. They found a damaged dock and piles of debris on the 4-acre property.

They figured it would take a couple days of work to return everything to normal.

"It's just a big mess," Lynn McMillin said. "This was an easy one."

The McMillins spent the day before the storm moving lawn mowers, freezers and other ground-level equipment that could be vulnerable.

"We don't leave," she said. "We kind of thought we'd evacuate after [Hurricane] Wilma in 2005, but I guess we decided not to this time."

McMillin owns Smallwood store, a couple blocks from their home.

The 102-year-old waterfront store and museum rests on stilts over the water, with wooden storm shutters to protect it from the wind.

The store had been a post office and a trading post for Seminole Indians. It survived countless storms, including hurricanes Andrew and Wilma. This is the fourth time anybody can recall that water from a storm got close to soaking the floor of the store.

On The Outskirts

Steve Johnson weathered the storm in his mobile home on a canal outside Everglades City.

Over the years, Johnson has added so many extra rooms and a separate roof structure that it no longer resembles a mobile home. He is most proud of the enormous dock and roof that jut out over the tiny canal. It is a popular place for locals to drink beer and take a dip during high tide.

"It can be kind of a lively place at times," he said.

Johnson paid $17,000 for the property nine years ago and has never been able to afford property insurance.

The makeshift nature of his additions can be cause for concern during storms. So, too, are the countless lawnmowers, boat motors and other equipment he has collected over the years as a handyman.

Johnson awoke at 1 a.m. today to the sound of wind and rain. He spent the rest of the night outside moving equipment to higher ground, wondering how high the water might get.

"I didn't want anything to float away," he said.

By 5 a.m., water drew even with the dock. Another couple of feet and he'd have water in his home.

Then the tide receded.

The power blinked on and off a few times, and the cable television cut off about 3 a.m.

"We didn't have enough water for anything to float away this time," Johnson said. "I watched the whole thing come and go."

By 8 a.m., Johnson cracked open a can of Busch Light from a beer refrigerator he keeps outside.

Once the water receded from the roads, he figured it wouldn't be too long before people would stop by for a beer.

"Like I said, it can get pretty lively here."

Hitting 'Rock Bottom'

Hurricane Wilma caused about $500,000 damage to Glades Haven, a grocery store, marina and motel on the road between downtown Everglades City and Chokoloskee Island.

The tally from Fay: Wind soaked the felt on the pool table at Leebo's, the bar at Glades Haven.

Leebo's still has a foot-high line someone drew in the women's bathroom showing how much water they got during Wilma.

There won't be a mark for Fay.

By 9 a.m., the owner expressed relief.

"We've seen the worse of what we'll get," said Lee Noble, who goes by Leebo.

Noble spent the morning making sure there wasn't any damage and chasing after his Jack Russell terrier, Buster.

The dog couldn't resist chasing rats that had fled the marshy areas during the storm.

Occasionally a rat would waddle across the road, and Buster would be off like a shot.

"Buster!"

It was no use.

Noble remained hopeful the bar would open on schedule at 3 p.m.

"This is a rock bottom bar," he said. "There might not be ice for the drinks, but the beer will be cold."

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