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Matlacha resident on difficult road to recovery after Helene

Reporter: Tiffany Rizzo Writer: Tim Belizaire
Published: Updated:

Matlacha residents are recovering from Helene’s storm surge on Thursday.

Luke Fabiunke’s Matlacha home had about eight inches of water. He said he lost everything during Hurricane Ian two years ago.

“It’s a bit depressing, but I’m trying to stay positive,” said Fabiunke. “These are only things. The house is mostly still there. The family is safe, so I’m trying to remain positive and take it in stride.”

Fabiunke took most of his belongings outside of his home so they could dry off.

He had friends and family help with repairing the damage to his home.

“You have to address this water quickly, mitigate it as soon as you can,” said Fabiunke. “I got my nephews here. Some friends came over, and we just started taking drywall off, removing baseboards, and doing what we can to mitigate the water damage.”

Fabiunke said he was emotional when the water entered his home Thursday night.

“I was shocked. Unfortunately, it happened again,” said Fabiunke. “A thousand thoughts went through my mind. The next few weeks are going to be difficult to clean up and get the house back restored as it was and just move on.”

Fabiunke and his neighbors all have trash piles of damaged items on the sidewalks similar to what happened during Ian.

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