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My sister made it home yesterday, just long enough to survey the damage. The good news is that the roof damage on the house is nowhere near as bad as she had been told. The planking over one spare bedroom is damaged and the entire roof will need to be reshingled, but there's little damage to most of the roof planking and the house is still pretty much watertight except in that one bedroom. Three broken windows, some roof repair and new shingles, and the ship's bell on the front door that she forgot to bring in - she got off light. If I were still in Florida, I could do it myself in a couple of weekends with two Home Depot deliveries. (She's going to write off the garbage cans and pink lawn flamingos which are probably in Alabama by now).

Her neighbors were not so lucky. One house's entire roof is gone, and the load-bearing walls on another are collapsed (along with the roof). Both are probably total losses, but the insurance adjuster hasn't shown up yet so we don't know for sure. The entire neighborhood is still without power, but everybody my sister knew already evacuated.

The bad news is that my sister's garage (not attached to the house) is totaled. Her Bentley and various deep freezers, lawnmowers, gardening tools, ATV, workbench, etc. are buried somewhere under the roof joists, planking, shingles, and a 40 x 50 foot chunk of her neighbor's roof. She thinks that when the debris is cleared, the car will be suitable only to ferry Herve Villechaize around in parades.

She solemnly assures me that all the damage is fully insured, and her Flying Cat Circus will be home in a couple of weeks instead of the multiple months I had feared. God does indeed answer prayer, and I've brought in a Maine Coon cat to keep order - even fashioned him a little police badge on his collar :)