Punta Gorda faces devastation with resilience

An entire street in Punta Gorda was flooded, forcing the community out of their homes.

On Monday, WINK News reporter Claire Galt went to the community of Riverside Drive to speak with some of the people who are still smiling despite what is waiting for them at home.

Several of the homes lining the water were completely wiped out due to the storm surge.

Most people’s belongings are now outside on the curb, the debris piles were already high thanks to Hurricane Helene, and now they are nearly double in size because of Hurricane Milton.

Neighbors on Shannon Drive said they were hit badly, not once but twice, by hurricanes Helene and Milton.

The evidence isn’t hard to find; giant piles of debris sit in yard after yard.

Andy Kalinski showed us inside his home to show what storm surge can do.

“Oh, you can see the mold. Yeah, that’s why I’m taking the cabinets out everything and cut four feet.”

Kalinski has mold growing on his walls; everything but his home’s foundation is as good as gone.

He is living in this camper in his driveway with his wife and six noisy, adorable Yorkies.

It was a frustrating and tiring situation, but he was all smiles Monday afternoon.

He has faith that he’ll live in his home again.  

“I’ll work and work, and if another storm comes, will work again.”

Cindy Houser is in awe of her neighbor’s resilience. Like Kalinski, she and her husband Bob got a one-two punch from Helene and Milton.

“It’s totally devastating. Cindy has, yes, Cindy has had a tough time dealing with it, you know, because, understandable, most of the stuff is gone. Washer and dryer gone, refrigerators gone, dishwashers gone.”

But like Andy, Cindy and Bob are trying to look past the empty rooms and cut-out walls to look for the good.

“We’re lucky. Actually, we’re the lucky ones.”

They’ve still got each other.

Amy and Jim Patterson were doing their best to clean up the sticky, smelly mud left inside their home on Island View Drive.

The Pattersons anxiously watched Ring camera footage from where they were in Ohio as Milton’s storm surge rose outside their Punta Gorda home.

They said watching the video is painful, but standing in their empty home, now covered in sludge, is harder.

“When my kids would come down to visit. This was their room. We had two beds in here for my grandkids,” Amy explained. “I can say that I know what it’s like to lose everything. I’ve never been in this situation before, but now I do, and it hurts.”

They now know what it’s like to spend hours piling debris on the curb and mopping up mud.

But they’re up for the job.

“You just got to be very tough about it. You got to just deal with it and … do it and get it cleaned up and start over.”

But that doesn’t mean it’s easy.

“It’s not the things that I had; it’s just the feeling that I get, like the things that me and my husband did together, and, you know, did. We made it beautiful and cleaned everything up, and then you walk in, and just, it’s heartbreaking,” shared Amy.

Amy was crying as she showed us her laundry room. On the wall was a beautifully painted mural of bright, colorful leaves, and beneath it was a knocked-over washer and dryer and broken drawers.

However, even through the tears, she still managed to smile.

She said, “You take what you get and you be happy about it. I’m just happy that my house is still here. I am. I’m tickled pink that my house is here and has a roof on it. That’s it. Keep going.”

The Pattersons said they’re lucky. They have each other and kind friends in Cape Coral who are letting them stay in their homes.

They know others are not so fortunate.