'Fearing For Our Lives': Former LI Man Loses New Home To Hurricane Ian

PINE ISLAND, FL ? As a person who lived the salt life for many a year on a property close to the bay in Mastic Beach, Ed Jodry was always prepared for storm season and whatever came with it.

When the first surge of bay water came rushing down the street in an unusual phenomenon caused by Superstorm Sandy during a full moon at high tide, he didn't even flinch. During the second surge, the morning after, the water flooded into his home and he was standing in it up to his chest as a fish swam around him. The disturbing thought of a neighbor and his daughter wading across the street to seek shelter on his second floor is still crisp in his mind.

Looking back, Jodry never once feared for his life until he was forced to seek shelter with his pets from their mobile home on Pine Island in St. James City at a nearby friend's house during Hurricane Ian in Florida.

"It was rocking and rolling," he said.

They stood helpless, watching the storm from the windows of the house as debris was tossed in the air and whipped around the home.

"It was ... I cannot describe it," he said, adding, "Horrifying would be a good word; just hard to accept. You know, this is the stuff you see on video on TV that happens in the Dominican Republic, Haiti ? God, in Puerto Rico."

"These poor people get clobbered all the time," he said.

But then as the back part of the hurricane made landfall for about 15 minutes, the house began to shake, and then to his horror, it started to come apart.

It was worse than the beginning of the storm.

"That was when we started fearing for our lives," he said. "That is when the house is shaking and the walls pulling away, and really things are getting really, really scary."

But the two friends, as well as Jodry's cat and dog, made it through a little bruised emotionally, but physically intact. His friend later used a backhoe to press the wall of his home up against the side of the house to keep the structure stable.

Others were not so lucky.

"We have friends who went down the street looking for friends after it was over," he said. "They were dead. They drowned. The water was up to the ceiling. People went through hell. People went through absolute hell."

It was something that Jodry, 70, said he never experienced.

"I've never had that feeling," he said.

He told his buddy that he had never feared for his life before, though he had been in "stupid situations," which were "dumb."

"You're going to get your butt kicked or whatever, but I never feared for my life, and it was interesting," he said. "It was an interesting feeling. When you are helpless, there's really nothing else to do. I mean, you have done everything to do."

And Jodry did do that.

Weighing the risk of the storm, he sought better shelter for himself and his furry charges. He took only what he needed and some items that were special to him, like photographs.

When he returned to his home, he found it destroyed by Ian's wrath, and having dealt with the Federal Emergency Management Agency after Sandy, he does not know how long it will be before he has a place to live.

His friends back on Long Island have since set up a GoFundMe for Jodry to help get him back on his feet. So far, it has raised about $4,300 toward its $10,000 goal.

Keith Redo told Patch that the group worked with Jodry as volunteers with St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Mastic Beach, and they felt bad about how his retirement turned out. First, he had trouble closing on the sale of his house and then rising housing prices caused a delay in his finding a permanent home down in Florida, so he bought a home in a trailer park.

After the hurricane hit, Jodry posted photos of the destruction he experienced to Facebook, and his Long Island friends were moved.

"He kind of lost everything," Redo said. "So, we are up here in New York and we really can't help him."

They did the math, and were concerned. Considering Jodry's home is now included on a list of thousands of other destroyed homes, it could take a while for him to get back on his feet and in his own home again.

"This is probably a typical story," Redo said. "It's just we feel bad for him. It's like he moved down there with all these expectations, and it hasn't worked out."

Jodry recalled he had so much trouble dealing with the cleanup and FEMA after Sandy, that he swore he would never live by the waterfront again.

"I really need to listen to myself," he said.

He added: "I was going to live out twilight years in peace and bliss.

Instead, he moved to Florida in May and worked hard around his house "in anticipation of a beautiful winter, luxuriating in the sun" with no plans to go anywhere.

Now his only options are continuing to stay with his friend, head to his sister's house in Fort Myers, or possibly return to New York.

In the meantime, he is grateful that his friends have started a fundraiser for him, but he lamented the fact that so many in Florida need help.

"So many are in trouble down here," he said. You know, their houses were flattened. They lost everything, and if the wind didn't get it, the floodwaters did. So, it's really heartbreaking what people are going through."

Life has gotten a little bit better with the opening of the bridge to the mainland, allowing people and supplies onto the island.

"All day today, people have been crossing back into Pine Island and showing up to their houses and just starting to cry because they are devastated," Jodry said. "I mean, the houses are just a pile of junk."

Editor's Note: GoFundMe is a Patch promotional partner.