South Jersey community focused on Ian as dozens have homes in Southwest Florida
WOODBINE, N.J. (CBS) -- Dozens of homeowners at Dennisville Lake Resort in South Jersey are particularly anxious as they watch Hurricane Ian track through Florida.
"We have 132 residents in our place in South Jersey," Beth McKenna said. "I would say probably about 30 of those residents have second homes somewhere in the state of Florida."
Beth and Michael McKenna's Tampa-area home avoided the worst of the damage, but some of their neighbors had trees crash through their homes.
"The stress of calling people in the middle of the night and saying, 'anything happening to my house?'" Michael McKenna said. "Or they can't talk because the electricity, they want to save their battery to their phone, and you don't know what is going on until you wait to the next morning."
These are photos South Jerseyans received from their neighbors in Florida where they own second homes. We spoke to them about their anxieties as they tracked Hurricane Ian and their plans to help their neighbors when they return to Florida today @CBSPhiladelphia. pic.twitter.com/1YpGgLfC6k
— Brandon Goldner (@GoldnerTV) September 29, 2022
Jeffrey Stuebner's family down in Florida sandbagged his Hudson Beach house ahead of any potential flooding.
"We missed another one, thank God," Stuebner said. "I feel bad for the people that did get hit knowing how I would've felt."
At the McKenna's neighborhood, one homeowner set up a tent to hand out breakfast to neighbors who are cleaning up the damage.
While all three are eager to get to their Florida homes soon and help their communities rebuild, everyone they spoke to who's down there now told them they learned a lesson.
"They told us this morning that it was the worst that they ever heard," Michael McKenna said. "The wind was like crazy, and they said they would never ride out something like that again."