Getting Results: Help arrives for sisters struggling 16 months after Hurricane Ian
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — 8 On Your Side is getting results for two Tampa Bay area sisters who are still struggling after Hurricane Ian. Despite an extended battle with their insurance company, the sisters cannot afford all of the repairs. Fortunately, the community is stepping in.
Hurricane Ian is long gone, but sisters Dorothy Cherry and Janice Clark are still dealing with the mess it left behind.
“This is home and I have nowhere else to go,” said Janice Clark.
Huge tree left in backyard 16 months after Hurricane Ian
They say they were lowballed by their insurance company. They hired an attorney to fight for a settlement and in the end, they were left with $12,637.88, not enough to fix the home and the yard.
The storm split a tree apart and uprooted the pavement. Family gatherings have come to a halt.
“This is what the kids used to like to come to the house for,” said Dorothy.
After our story about the sisters first aired, many viewers emailed 8 On Your Side, saying they were touched by the story. Others moved to act.
Jennifer Moore, a retired teacher who created Moore Cuts Florida, a tree service, teamed up with Tampa Bay Stumps Services to cut the tree and haul it away, free of charge.
“We’re taking every bit of wood away,” Moore said. “That’s the old neighborhood where my children went to school. And so, when I saw the story, I was like, oh I can’t hear of another person going through that like we did.”
Janice and Dorothy told Mahsa that after the story aired, the insurance company changed the terms of the settlement, giving the sisters an additional $3,000.
The sisters cannot wait for the backyard to be back to normal.
8 On Your Side will continue to follow their journey.
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