Amid debris, Michael’s survivors cling to motel
PANAMA CITY, FLA. — Simply getting through the day is a struggle at the American Quality Lodge, a low-rent motel where dozens of people are living in squalor amid destruction left by Hurricane Michael.
Families huddle under makeshift tents and in breezeways strewn with broken glass and roofing fragments, seeking escape from Florida’s midday sun. They line up in a parking lot for food and water whenever volunteers and church groups stop by. There’s been no power in a week, and the water has been out for days.
Nighttime means relief from the heat, but also brings the threat of looters. Residents say people have stolen money, jewelry, food and even rain-soaked clothes from rooms ripped apart and left open to the elements by Michael.
“Basically, if you were living here before the storm you were homeless. This was our last resort,” said Jeannie Holcombe, who has been at the motel a few months with her husband, Jason. “It’s worse now.”
Michael’s winds of as much as 155 mph ripped much of the roof off the two-story red-brick motel, which is just miles from the white sands of Panama City Beach. Rain flooded the upper level and dripped down to the first floor. The place looks absolutely shattered, with tarps strung from the second-floor balcony providing some shade.
Rooms reek with the pungent smell of wet clothes and perspiration; windows are missing from many.
Long-term residents, who pay out about $180 a week per room, abandoned blown-out rooms for ones with fewer leaks or doors that will shut. Other people simply showed up from surrounding areas and settled in. Some asked permission, others didn’t.
Joe Donahue, who works for a company that was taking over management of the motel as Michael struck, has been driving store-to-store in search of supplies, including water and feminine products for the women. He said he doesn’t mind people staying there for now.
“I have no place to send them because everything is booked,” he said. “It’s a nightmare.”
Vicki and her husband Wes Allen are stuck at the 135-room motel with their three children, including 17-year-old Allison Allen, who is seven months pregnant. Someone pilfered $21 that was set aside for her unborn daughter, they said.
“It’s not like it’s a huge amount of money, but that would have been a couple outfits for her,” said Allison, whose twin sister Kristin is also at the motel along with their older brother, Wes Allen Jr.
Residents credit their father with risking his life to rescue 10 people during the worst of the storm, helping them leave rooms torn to shreds by the wind.