Drove by the beach today. After being quite a distance outside the cones for two hurricanes, I still see a lot of sand in the street. For those of you outside the affected areas, know that it will take come years to rebuild. Some small businesses are trying to reopen. If they have been hit more than once, this will be a struggle. If you can support the local businesses (even from afar), it would help them survive. While I won't suggest a particular business, I can certainly point you in the right direction.
@marlboromaam Orlando should be in good shape, mostly. Other than the obvious needs in NC, there are businesses in the Big Bend such as Steinhatchee, the St. Pete area (which prefers the Mom and Pop business), Sarasota and Ft Myers. My concern is that if the small businesses don’t come back only large corporations will take over.
@danette Oh I get it. So many mom and pop places closed their doors during COVID here and have never started up again. Lots of empty buildings and shuttered doors. It's so sad to see it happen again and again.
@rickster549 I just think there are different levels this year. You have the areas most devastated, which would be NC because of the extreme damage. Then, you have smaller towns, such as in the Big Bend that could literally become ghost towns. The small businesses are struggling to survive after multiple hits. It’s one thing to have savings to pay for a huge deductible (for instance), but to pay that 3x in a year might not be doable. I see the massive amounts of donations being given, but sometimes that just allows a person to survive. You may have seen Roy’s in Steinhatchee that got flattened. It’ll take a good year to rebuild when they were already closed for months rebuilding from Adalia. How much money will a food truck provide vs a full restaurant?
