The extent of the damage to homes and businesses from Hurricane Milton is still being assessed. The emotional strain of dealing with two major hurricanes and an unprecedented number of tornadoes in only a few weeks has left people in Florida reeling.
Dr. Meghan Martin, pediatric emergency medicine physician at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, said her home has flooded three times in the past four years, starting with Hurricane Idalia in late August 2023.
“There’s a lot of people feeling that anxiety, feeling the stresses, compounding with two different storms so close together,” Martin said.
While her home survived Milton’s destructive flooding, she’s unsure what to do next.
“I do feel drained. I’m exhausted,” said Martin, who has been in the hospital working with the emergency operation center through the storm. “Obviously we need to make some changes, because we can’t keep going through this. My …