El Jobean residents fighting to recover from Helene

Reporter: Haley Zarcone
Published: Updated:

In Charlotte County, people living in El Jobean are in recovery mode after Helene on Thursday night.

Many were flooded out of their homes, and now they’re figuring out their next steps.

Jimmy Williams is a resident of El Jobean and he said he’s thankful that only his garage took the beating from Helene.

Some residents lost their entire homes at El Jobean. Water was up to people’s waists Thursday night.

Williams said he dealt with a lot of water during Helene.

“It’s like a washing machine inside, and everything was just like, scattered everywhere, everywhere,” said Williams.

He watched his boat move behind his house, and his bee hives floated away.

“I’m a beekeeper. I had four boxes of bees, and I had them all strapped down. I woke up this morning, I looked over there, and I had no boxes left. We thought it was going to be high enough, but it wasn’t”

Williams and the rest of Southwest Florida are picking up what Hurricane Helene left behind.

“I got neighbors that came over to help,” said Williams. “My neighbor, Joe over here in the yellow house. I mean, he’s totally lost everything. Now we just kind of like doing cleanup. And I got friends who’ve been coming over here, helping me out and kind of clean up. It’s kind of like what we doing here in El Jobean.”

Williams was able to salvage at least one beehive. He’s working to nurture it back to health.

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