Hurricane Michael devastated the Florida panhandle earlier this month, with the Category 4 storm causing a massive amount of damage and killing multiple people.
Several areas were hit extremely hard by the hurricane, with those affected losing homes, businesses and more. One area heavily affected was Mexico Beach, the home of singer Luke Bryan‘s mother, LeClaire.
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Nine days after the storm hit, LeClaire returned home for the first time, discovering that her home had been severely damaged by the powerful hurricane.
LeClaire had attempted to protect her home by boarding the windows, but the storm made its way through, tearing objects off the walls and swirling debris through the house.
Among the wreckage, a frame of Luke’s first No. 1 song, 2009’s “Rain Is a Good Thing,” lay shattered on the ground.
At one point, LeClaire became overwhelmed by the wreckage, placing her head on her arms and resting against the back of a gator vehicle while being comforted by another resident.
Ahead of the storm, Bryan had tweeted asking for prayers for those he knew who lived in the path of the storm.
“Hey everyone. Pray for my people,” he wrote. “So many dear people I know are being affected. My mother and so many friends live in Mexico beach. And now it’s bearing down on Albany and Leesburg.”
Hey everyone. Pray for my people. So many dear people I know are being affected. My mother and so many friends live in Mexico beach. And now it’s bearing down on Albany and Leesburg.
— Luke Bryan (@LukeBryanOnline) October 11, 2018
After the hurricane passed, 46 people were still missing in the Mexico Beach area. Mexico Beach Mayor Al Cathey told reporters that despite mandatory evacuation orders, 289 people, including 10 children, were still in the city when the storm hit.
“If we lose only one life, to me that’s going to be a miracle,” Cathey told the Associated Press.
A total of 18 people were killed in the hurricane, with one resident of Mexico Beach passing away due to the storm.
Panama City resident Jackie Lane rode out the storm in an inn down the street from her home and told ABC News that she and her family are lucky to be alive.
“For about three hours it just sucked us in and sucked us out, sucked us in and sucked us out,” she said. “I thought I was gonna lose my husband cause the door was cracking. And the stove and refrigerator that was in there, we could hear them just backing together and clanging around. We seen the stove fly across us. We seen all the debris, trees, pieces of everything.”
Photo Credit: Getty / Scott Olson
