‘Words can’t even describe it’: On the heels of historic hurricanes metro woman helps father rebuild

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - The heartache of Hurricane Helene and Milton is being felt in the heartland.

A local woman is now in Florida helping her dad rebuild after his home in the Charlotte Harbor area was destroyed by the historic storms.

“Words can’t even describe it,” said Tracy Gibson.

Gibson walked KCTV5 through the damage over Zoom.

Her father, Rodger Richardson, was born and raised in Kansas City and moved to his Florida home in 1987.

“We’ve had many storms and hurricanes that have gone by, but we’ve never had this tilde surge that we had, and that’s the most devastating thing you can have with these floods,” Richardson said.

On Sep. 26, Hurricane Helene struck his house, leaving behind 18 inches of water inside.

“The first one, we had it all cleaned up and thought we had it made,” Richardson said.

After the first storm, he cleaned up and saved what he could. But less than two weeks later, Milton came through and packed a greater punch, leaving behind three feet of mud throughout the house.

“This time, it just destroyed everything,” Richardson said. “That water, it can destroy anything, and it did.”

Richardson will have to gut his house and start all over. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have insurance but has a strong community and family by his side.

“Lots of tears were shed, lots of prayers going up, and it’s just devastating,” Gibson said. “Knowing he’s gone through all these hurricanes, but it’s never been at this magnitude.”

There is a GoFundMe set up if you would like to donate to Richardson’s recovery efforts, which he said will take months.

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