In Daytona's Midtown, Ian's assault continues on flooded streets, powerless homes

Jim Abbott, The Daytona Beach News-Journal
·5 min read
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DAYTONA BEACH — After four days without electricity on a street still covered in murky ankle-deep flood waters from destructive Tropical Storm Ian, Natalie Hawkins-McGill perseveres by embracing the sentiment emblazoned on the tattoo along her right leg.

“You never know how strong you can be until that’s the only choice you have.”

On Sunday, as she heated up coals on two tiny hibachi grills on her front sidewalk to prepare breakfast for her two children, she contemplates the message.

“I guess that’s me,” she said.

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Ian’s wrath still isn’t done wreaking havoc on the homes and daily routines of Hawkins-McGill and her neighbors on Fulton Street, a block south of George W. Engram Boulevard in Midtown, Daytona Beach’s historic Black neighborhood.

Natalie Hawkins-McGill wades through a lingering puddle on her way to talk with her neighbors on Fulton Street in Daytona Beach's Midtown neighborhood, an area hard-hit by Tropical Storm Ian. On Sunday, Fulton Street residents were still waiting for their power to be restored.
Natalie Hawkins-McGill wades through a lingering puddle on her way to talk with her neighbors on Fulton Street in Daytona Beach's Midtown neighborhood, an area hard-hit by Tropical Storm Ian. On Sunday, Fulton Street residents were still waiting for their power to be restored.

As Ian was barreling toward Volusia and Flagler counties, Hawkins-McGill, 34, gathered her two children, daughter Amari, 14, and son, Aiden, 9, and fled to her parents’ home in Deltona.

She returned to a flooded yard and damages that she never would have imagined that tropical-storm force winds could inflict. Most incredibly, her silver Toyota RAV4, parked safely next to the house, sustained a dented fender when Ian’s winds actually blew it against the side of the house, she said.

Daytona Beach Public Works employee checks out the progress on Fulton Street in Daytona Beach's Midtown nieghborhood, an area hard-hit by Tropical Storm Ian. Residents on Fulton Street were still waiting on Sunday for their power to be restored.
Daytona Beach Public Works employee checks out the progress on Fulton Street in Daytona Beach's Midtown nieghborhood, an area hard-hit by Tropical Storm Ian. Residents on Fulton Street were still waiting on Sunday for their power to be restored.

On top of that, the family is still waiting for electricity to be restored.

“It sucks,” she said of living without lights, AC and hot water, but she is learning to improvise.

A pot of water is boiling on one of the hibachi grills, which have performed multiple duties beyond cooking meals.

Natalie Hawkins-McGill's home in Midtown in Daytona Beach is still without power. “We use the grills for everything,” she said. That included a Sunday family breakfast of sausage links, bacon, eggs, grits and biscuits.
Natalie Hawkins-McGill's home in Midtown in Daytona Beach is still without power. “We use the grills for everything,” she said. That included a Sunday family breakfast of sausage links, bacon, eggs, grits and biscuits.

“We use the grills for everything,” she said. That includes a Sunday family breakfast of sausage links, bacon, eggs, grits and biscuits.

“We’re making do,” she said. “We have a very strong support system over here. I’m trying to use the time to make memories with my kids, to show them we’re able to do different things, that we’re able to improvise.”

Daytona's Midtown felt Ian's force

As Ian lashed the area, his assault was particularly brutal in Midtown.

By Thursday, as the slow-moving storm lingered over Central Florida, water had risen to more than five feet in some areas of the community east of Nova Road. Eyewitnesses reported residents clinging to the tops of cars or sloshing through shallower sections of the murky water that destroyed homes from Shady Place north to Mason Avenue.

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On Sunday, there was still enough standing water to make Shady Place impassable in spots, but residents in the neighborhood again had electricity.

Outside the Mount Calvary Assembly church on Bellevue Avenue, several members were busy raking branches and other debris from the parking lot. With power on in the building, there would be a Sunday service, said member Vanessa Kelly, but not the traditional worship.

“We’re having a clean-up service,” she said, adding that the congregation feels blessed. “We had no flooding, but we lost some tiles off the roof. We’re blessed.”

Other residents were less grateful, expressing frustration about chronic issues with flooding in the community that were exposed again by Ian and need to be addressed by the city of Daytona Beach.

City officials have been trying for years to secure money for an exhaustive study that would help determine how to improve water flow in the area. In the meantime, the city has added new storm water pipes, retention ponds and pumps in the Midtown area.

A section of Shady Place west of Niles Street in Daytona Beach is still covered by water on Sunday as the area continues to feel the effects of Tropical Storm Ian.
A section of Shady Place west of Niles Street in Daytona Beach is still covered by water on Sunday as the area continues to feel the effects of Tropical Storm Ian.

“They keep cleaning out the drains, but it’s not helping,” said Rowana Walker, who was still without power on Sunday at her home on Loomis Avenue, where the water in flooded streets was still high on Saturday night.

“It’s still up over the curb,” Walker said. “It’s deep enough for the children to swim in it. Literally, it’s deep enough for them to swim. People were out in canoes, all kinds of stuff.”

'Never had so much damage'

Drainage also was a problem at the corner of Winchester and Flora streets, where a massive oak tree had toppled across the road, entangling two different power lines.

“I have a drain right on my corner and it doesn’t work,” said Ilynette Morales, 38, who was awaiting crews to remove a tree trunk that had fallen across her fence. A veteran of many storms, Morales rates Ian as the worst she has ever seen.

Power company crews work on Fulton Street in Daytona Beach's Midtown neighborhood on Sunday, as the area continues to recover from Tropical Storm Ian.
Power company crews work on Fulton Street in Daytona Beach's Midtown neighborhood on Sunday, as the area continues to recover from Tropical Storm Ian.

“I never had so much damage,” she said. “I couldn’t get out my front door because of all the trees that were blocking it. I had to go buy a chainsaw to start cutting them down.”

On Sunday afternoon, she was still waiting with ebbing patience for power to be restored in the home she shares with her mother and her two daughters, ages 11 and 12. The current estimate from the power company?

“I just got a message telling me that the latest it will be restored is 11:59 p.m. Oct. 4,” she said, adding that the countdown is underway. “Believe me, I’ve got that deadline memorized.”

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Tropical Storm Ian's impact continues in flooded, powerless Midtown neighborhood in Daytona Beach