“It was just a monster in disguise,” Port Charlotte couple cleans up after Helene

It’s safe to say Wesley and Karen Wingate will never forget what they had for dinner on September 27.

“We were having dinner, and the water started to rise,” said Wesley Wingate, a Port Charlotte resident who lives near the Peace River. “And it was the same as the last storm that hit this area.”

The couple didn’t worry about it. They continued eating dinner as Hurricane Helene rolled by.

“Then at that point, I started noticing (the water) coming into the lanai,” said Wesley. “So once it came into the lanai, it got right up to the running boards of the of the door. Right to the door jam. And I told my wife, I said, ‘Karen, start picking stuff up off the floor!”

Within minutes, the Wingates said the water was about six inches in the house.

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When all was said and done, Hurricane Helene brought a total of about two feet of water inside their home.

“When we opened the front door, the surge of water came in like a river,” recalled Wesley. “And so by then, it was over four feet from our driveway to the driveway across the street.”

Luckily, their neighbors across the street own an Airbnb.

“Nobody was there, so she was gracious enough to let us stay there,” said Wesley. “If we didn’t have that place to go, we couldn’t have got out of here.”

But getting across the street was scary for the couple’s four-legged friend.

“Our dog had to swim across,” explained Wesley. “It was so deep she couldn’t walk across. So she was scared. She was very scared… Animals do feel when things are in disarray, you know?”

As for Wesley and Karen’s belongings, most of them now sit on the curb outside their home.

“We’ve lost all the appliances, washer, dryer,” said Wesley, adding in a joke: “everything from q tips to the hot water heater is gone!”

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The floor will need replacing too. So will their drywall.

“Everybody got caught off guard,” said Wesley. “It was just a monster in disguise, this storm.”

But Wesley and his wife Karen are not letting it bring them down.

“This has been a harrowing experience, but God has poured down more blessings on us than we can count or even write down,” Karen said.

And this couple will continue to pray for all those affected by Helene.

“We pray for those that are less fortunate,” added Wesley. “We won’t know the whole impact of the storm, I don’t think, for a while, you know?”