MADEIRA BEACH, Fla. — While people are still recovering in Madeira Beach, its families and students living there are also displaced.

Cheri Sauter has lived in Madeira Beach for 20 years, until Hurricane Helene flooded her apartment.

“After Helene, my hands started shaking, and tears were rolling down my face,” she said.

Before the hurricanes, the beach was always Sauter's favorite place. But now she says she’s experiencing PTSD.

“The beach has always been a part of my soul. It’s the one place I can go when everything is going wrong in life, and I feel this sense that everything will be OK. So, to go from that to just extraordinary, uncontrollable fear,” she said.

Now the beach serves as a traumatic reminder of how much she lost from her apartment in Madeira Beach.

“It just brings back all the memories of, you know, dragging literally everything I own to the street. You know, it was all waterlogged. My couch, my bed — everything was destroyed,” she said.

That included precious memories, like her daughter’s artwork.

“It’s like the memories attached to this stuff. The memories are still there, but she used that stuff when she was, like, 2 probably. It’s just hard to see all of that ripped away,” she explained.

Damage from the storm surge made their apartment unlivable, and their lease was terminated. Ever since, the mother and daughter have been staying at a friend’s house.

“Their generosity is beyond what I can comprehend,” she said.

It’s not just their personal lives that have been impacted — Cheri’s daughter was displaced from Madeira Beach Fundamental School.

“It’s weird. It’s different because this is the last school I’ll be at before high school, so it would have been my last year here. But we’ll be back soon, so that’ll be nice,” said Nevaeh.

According to the district, the building’s electrical system suffered significant damage from Helene, and it will take time to repair. Until everything is ready, middle schoolers like Nevaeh have been attending Osceola High.

“It’s kind of nice going to the high school because that’ll be my school next year. So it’s like finding my way — I know where some of the classes are now for high school,” she said.

School officials say students will return to Madeira Beach Fundamental School on Monday, Dec. 2, but they will be in classrooms only on the second floor and in portables until all work is complete.

“I’m just ready to be back at my school,” she explained.

This family is fighting through tough times and ready for things to return to normal.

There is also a change in the school’s start time. On Dec. 2, elementary-grade students will start at 9:45 a.m. and end at 4 p.m.