Some evacuees ready for life back home after fleeing Hurricane Irma

Some evacuees at the Columbus Civic Center don’t know what they will find back home but hope to leave from their shelter in Columbus.

Melissa Jowers and Jerry Dent arrived in Columbus from Brunswick late Friday after a mandatory evacuation order was issued in Glynn County. The Civic Center has been the temporary home for about 600 people since Hurricane Irma threatened Florida and Georgia.

Jowers, a resident of Marsh Landing, said she had lived in the area for only five months before the order came to evacuate. She hopes her apartment isn’t flooded.

“I don’t think it got flooded,” Jowers said during a break outside the arena in South Commons. “The parking lot I think is flooded. I don’t think my apartment did.”

Jowers hopes the group leaves on Wednesday but Dent is in no hurry to get back if there is no power. “I don’t want to go back if there is no power,” Dent said. “I haven’t been told if there is power or not.”

Jowers made the trip with a her left arm wrapped. She sustained a fracture the night before leaving but decided against putting it in a cast.

“I’m going to wait 'til I go home to the hospital,” she said. “It’s only going to be a few days. I believe it’s going to be alright. It’s been broke before. They gave me a splint to put on it but it hurts worse with a splint on it. I’m scared of falling on it.”

Dent, a native of Jesup who lives on Blythe Island, lives on a campground near a drainage ditch. Authorities were concerned about the ditch flooding before he was forced to leave. He hopes to get a voucher and stay in a hotel when he returns home.

Both Jowers and Dent are thankful for help they received from local residents and American Red Cross staff in Columbus.

Dent, 58, didn’t have a jacket when he arrived but a friend brought him one. “I’m glad we are here,” he said.

Jowers said it’s been like a reunion after riding to Columbus with friends. “I see a bunch of friends I haven’t seen in while,” she said. “It’s kind of like a reunion. Everybody is so nice. The Red Cross is nice.”

This story was originally published September 11, 2017 at 8:47 PM with the headline "Some evacuees ready for life back home after fleeing Hurricane Irma."