Florida residents are getting better and better at protecting their homes from hurricanes, turning to different ways to create barriers to keep out the water.
Inga Lodge had five feet of water inside her Naples Park home during Hurricane Ian in 2022.
She and her husband spent hundreds of thousands of dollars repairing the pool, pool deck, first-floor living area and her garages.
"Ian was supposed to be a 100-year storm, once in a lifetime, it won't happen again, she told me. "And then we had Hurricane Helene."
When Hurricane Helene flooded her neighborhood again in September, it was not as bad, but the storm brought back her fears about her home being destroyed again. She went all out in the preparations, sealing the doorways and entrances with layers of Flex Seal, sandbags and plastic tarps.
"It's my biggest investment," says Inga.
Instead of five and a half feet of water inside, like with Ian, she only had a few inches. The French doors to her patio looked like an aquarium.
Gwynne Messery now has a whole section of her garage dedicated to hurricane supplies in her Iona area home in South Fort Myers. She lost every piece of furniture, clothing, and all her personal belongings when Hurricane Ian brought in 8 feet of storm surge. Her family members and employees spend 2 days preparing for Hurricane Milton.
They wrapped the home with an aqua barrier and sealed the doors with a roofing tarp and Flex Seal.
She bought reusable sandbags, and they lifted every single piece of furniture onto five-gallon paint buckets. Nothing was left on the floor. She used barriers on the inside of her doors, too, to absorb the moisture, purchased a battery-powered generator to run fans, dehumidifiers and several shop vacuums, even during the storm.
Both the Messery's and the Lodge's efforts worked. They both spent more than $1,000 to prepare, but much less than it cost them to repair their homes two years ago.
Gwynne said it is the price we pay to live in paradise.