Christmas decorations washed ashore after Milton

Reporter: Claire Galt
Published: Updated:
Christmas

A plastic storage bin washed up like a message in a bottle from Hurricane Milton. Inside the box labeled “Christmas” are antique decorations.

The bin was found ashore at a home in Punta Gorda Isles, and the people who found it want to return it to its rightful owners.

Not only are they in great condition, but the Christmas decorations barely got wet.

It’s incredible because Diane Byrne believes Hurricane Milton’s surge stole them away and put them there in the grass.

She came to WINK in the hopes that the decorations belong to one of you, a WINK News viewer, who may happen upon this story.

Diane found the bin on Friday, two days after Milton’s surge rushed through Punta Gorda and scattered debris throughout yards and streets.

It was sitting near the intersection of West Marion Avenue and Coldeway Drive.

“We saw it was labeled “Christmas,” and we realized that it must have gotten washed up,” she said.

Inside, there were two Santas and something else special.

It’s so special that Byrne doesn’t want to name the other item on TV but believes that if the rightful owner sees this story, it’ll ring a bell.

“I really want them to know that this was found [and] that everything was in amazing shape. Literally, nothing was broken. They were not wet. It was amazing,” she said.

Byrne knows what her Charlotte County neighbors are dealing with: the clean-up, the loss and the pain.

“If somebody lost their house, God forbid, this might have washed out their garage and might have washed out their storage unit. It kind of seems silly to say that these Christmas items would make them happy, but that’s what Christmas does for all of us, right? Because we look at them, and we remember running down a Christmas morning or being with our family.”

Byrne is hoping for a Christmas miracle.

“I know it sounds corny, but I don’t believe in coincidences. I really think that there was somebody kind of looking out for somebody called divine intervention. Call it karma, call it whatever. I don’t know, but clearly, there’s somebody who wanted this to go back to the rightful owner,” Byrne said.

If the Christmas decorations belong to you, and you’re missing the Santas and the other special items, Click here to go to Diane’s Facebook page. You can reach out to her there.

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