Post-Michael Florida: Fear, frustration and life on the edge

MEXICO BEACH, Fla. — Missing relatives and worries that looters are just outside the door. Dirty clothes. Hourslong lines for gasoline, insurance adjusters, food and water. No power, no air conditioning, no schools, no information and little real improvement in sight.

Daily life is a series of fears and frustrations, both large and small, for thousands of people living on the edge, more than a week after Hurricane Michael flattened thousands of square miles in the hurricane zone of the Florida Panhandle.

Erin Maxwell waited in line for fuel for more than an hour Thursday at a gasoline station that never opened. “I’m tired and want to go to sleep. I don’t want to wait in another line,” said Maxwell, eyes closed and her head tilted back on the seat.

Meanwhile, husband Mickey Calhoun fretted over the fate of his mother, Anita Newsome, 74. The retired sheriff’s deputy was last seen when officers took her to a hospital the day before Michael made landfall, her son said.

“We can’t find her or get word anywhere,” said an exasperated Calhoun, 54, wearing stained khaki pants and a dingy towel draped around his neck.

A few miles away, 70-year-old Ed Kirkpatrick and his 72-yearold wife, Sandra Sheffield, huddle together in a splintered mobile home surrounded by fallen pine trees. A noisy generator powers the old box fan blowing warm air across their den. They’re both afraid to leave because of widespread reports of looting.

The man, a diabetic who has a big scar down the middle of his chest from heart surgery, needs medical attention and ice to refrigerate his insulin, said Sheffield, who has a pacemaker. But getting out in traffic takes hours and precious fuel, she said, and looters could show up at any time.

“I don’t want to go anywhere because I know I’m safe here,” said Sheffield, burying her head in a twisted towel to cry.

Michael slammed into Florida’s Panhandle with 155 mph winds on Oct. 10 and retained hurricane-force winds deep into southern Georgia, also affecting the Carolinas and Virginia. Florida authorities on Thursday say the storm killed 24 people in the state, bringing the overall death toll to at least 34.