WILBUR-BY-THE-SEA, Fla. — Beach erosion from Hurricane Nicole toppled swimming pools, walls, rooms, staircases and backyards down to the beach, with some of the wreckage washed into the ocean, along a normally scenic stretch of beachfront Wilbur-By-The-Sea, a community wedged between Daytona Beach Shores and Ponce Inlet.
About 24 hours after the remnants of the storm left the area behind, owners who left under mandatory evacuation orders returned to find what was left of dream homes and vacation spots.
Some could be seen from the beach removing clothing and personal items from closets that were split in half, others were shocked as onlookers snapped photos with phones from the beach below.
“There’s a lot of broken dreams down there,” said Steve Amburgey, of Windermere, who drove over to check on his family condo nearby. His building was spared from the catastrophic erosion that others faced, but still sustained boardwalk damage from Nicole. During Hurricane Ian about six weeks before, an air-conditioning unit blew away.
But others fared far worse.
Initial assessments count $481 million in property damage from Nicole in Volusia County, though officials said that number will certainly rise as their work continues. So far, 18 single-family homes are deemed destroyed along with one multifamily structure, according to a Friday news release.
Thirty-five single-family homes sustained major damage, along with 13 condos and three duplexes, the release said.
Single-family home damage was estimated at about $13 million, while $277 million in condominium damage has been documented with $190 million to commercial properties.
On Thursday, county officials deemed 24 hotels and condos unsafe for people to enter, and at least 25 homes in Wilbur-By-The-Sea were structurally unsound, a spokesperson said.
No fatalities have been reported for Nicole in Volusia County; for Hurricane Ian there were 5.
“I’ve been coming out here for 30 years and I’ve never seen anything like this. It’s heartbreaking,” Amburgey said.
Gov. Ron DeSantis and state officials toured several of the damaged homes Friday afternoon. In a news release, his office said the Florida Department of Transportation was making emergency repairs to State Road A1A in Volusia and Flagler counties, and 22,000 linemen were working to restore power. Every property that was safe to have power restored was expected to be done by day’s end, the release states.
Harvey Oest’s backyard crashed down to the beach but the home the Maine native lives in during winter months was structurally spared from Nicole’s wrath. Oest evacuated to his daughter’s place in Orlando to ride out the hurricane.
“We’re people going through something that everybody likes to see, but not live through,” he said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
On the beachfront, choppy waves crashed up to a pedestrian access ramp down to the sand, as onlookers trudged through the shallow water. To the left of the ramp, dozens of homes had walls ripped away as mattresses, appliances, swimming pools, bathtubs, decking and staircases were strewn below.
Television camera crews toured some of the properties. Law enforcement had a roadblock preventing vehicle traffic from perusing, but allowed homeowners to return to retrieve personal items and damaged property that some hoisted into pick-up trucks.
Bent and damaged beams kept some swimming pools upright, leaving their long-term stability questionable at best.
One mint-colored home had an entire room crash down the 20-or-so feet below, exposing a living room and kitchen to the elements.
County officials said Friday that they’d allow property owners beach access through approved vehicle ramps managed by the county to clean up and assess the damage.
Charlie Tolleson lives right across the street from the beachfront homes and said days before the storm he walked down to the beach as the waters began to kick up. At that point, he knew the area was in for a rough storm.
“I had been going over there and watching it day by day, and I could see it was going to be trouble,” he said.
Tolleson has hurricane shutters, which saved his home from wind damage. Hurricane Ian brought soffit damage, which he had repaired, only for part of it to be again ripped off by Nicole weeks later.
But seeing his neighbors’ damage, he felt lucky.
“All I had to do was take my hearing aides out and go to sleep,” he said.
