On November 19, the hurricane recovery center in Myakka City is winding down its operations. This comes after the county announced a decreased number of families requesting services.

What You Need To Know

  • Myakka City's recovery center is winding down after Ian

  • Officials say that the number of claims is down enough to warrant the decision

  • The Tennants are still working to rebuild on their own

Despite this, many people are still picking up the pieces from the storm. One family says it’s affected more than just their home and property.

For Jodi Tennant, the work just never ends. “Trying to cut down and cut off some of the limbs so we can do something with these big trees,” she said.

The storm tore down 40 trees on their property, leaving enormous holes in the ground and debris everywhere.

“Its been a lot, seriously it’s been a lot. I went to the doctor yesterday, and she said your blood pressure is sky high,” Tennant said.

It not just affected their home, but also their lives. Tennant had to give up being the primary caretaker for her 91-year-old mom, adding additional healthcare services.

Because of the damages to her property, Jodi and her husband, Robert, have little time to do anything else.

“Its just clean up time, that’s all there is to it just clean up,” he said.

To avoid the cost of a tree removal company, they are picking up and tossing the chopped-up pieces into the fire and burning them.

“lots and lots. I think we counted probably another 25 and I think we already did 20,” she said.

The trees also damaged several barns on the property. One of which is where Jodi’s horse, Bill, stays. “It flooded all of our saddles and everything we had,” she said.

The horse was inside the barn when the tree fell and created a hole in the roof. Their home also was affected.

“That tree right here that was the last tree that came down too, snapped right in half and came in punched a hole right through it,” she said.

Both Jodi and her husband work to get their lives back on track.

“That’s all we can do. I don’t expect anything from the county or anything like that, but this is we are just going to keep at it,” she said.

Because for them the storm isn’t over just yet, there is still plenty of work to be done, one day at a time.