Married couple who nearly died during Hurricane Idalia tell a story of community and family

Douglas Soule, USA TODAY NETWORK - Florida
Updated ·4 min read

CROSS CITY − When he was a boy, after Hurricane Andrew destroyed Broward County in 1992, John Williams' mom had seen enough.

Not wanting to go through another major storm, they moved away. He ended up in the much-less-populous Dixie County, which adjourns the Gulf Coast in Florida’s Big Bend. The very same Dixie County that got hit hard by Hurricane Idalia.

He hadn’t expected something of Idalia’s magnitude in Cross City, where he lives with his wife, Jessica Shyer, and twin girls. It’s inland, sitting about in the middle of the county.

Williams also didn’t expect he and his wife would lose their cars and nearly their lives.

They’d put their blue Ford Ranger and black Kia Forte in the middle of the yard before the storm.

“We were as ready as you can get,” Williams said. “Honestly, we would be in a lot better of a boat if not for a tree falling.”

“We usually don’t even have a branch fall in that area,” Shyer said.

The married pair watched the storm from their front porch on Wednesday morning. At around 6 a.m., Shyer noticed an 80-foot water oak near their cars “wiggling almost like a loose tooth.”

She ran inside to get her keys. But she tripped, on nothing, in the process. Shyer believes it was her mother looking out for her. If not for that, she would’ve been in the Kia when the tree crushed it and the truck.

Her husband, still on the porch, watched that happen. The tree’s thud shook the earth, and he saw “the brightest blue light you could possibly imagine.”

The tree took the electric line out, ripping away a chunk of roof in the process. The live wire slapped the earth beside his feet.

Had there been standing water, Williams believes he would have been electrocuted.  He thinks his mom was probably looking after him, too.

“We rode that out, and we’ll never do that again,” Williams said.

"The girls could have lost both of us in a matter of seconds," Shyer said.

But they have no intention of moving away.

“Our roots are planted,” Williams said, looking back at his house, eyes pausing on the water oak’s stump. “We’ve just got to rebuild.”

Rebuilding after Idalia is made easier by the “little community” around them, he said. Shyer said it was like a family.

Neighbors came with chainsaws to clear the tree. One used a forklift to move the Kia.

“Everybody in this community, it don’t matter what time of day or what it is, they’ll always pull together,” he said. “They literally had the car unburied, we were cut out, and everything was moved over there within a few hours of the hurricane.”

Bark and leaves are scattered across the floorboard of Jessica ShyerÕs vehicle, which was crushed by an oak tree, estimated to be 80 feet tall, during Hurricane Idalia in Cross City, Fla.
Bark and leaves are scattered across the floorboard of Jessica ShyerÕs vehicle, which was crushed by an oak tree, estimated to be 80 feet tall, during Hurricane Idalia in Cross City, Fla.

Meanwhile, in Madison: Completely in the dark for days, neighbors put Madison 'back together' after Idalia

How to help: A Florida guide to giving, volunteering after Hurricane Idalia ravages Big Bend

The neighbors to the right

The help didn’t end in the hours after the storm, either.

Alex and Sharlene Jerrells dropped off food and water two days later.

The Jerrells had a very different storm story, even though they lived in the house just to the right.

Live oaks tower over their home. As Hurricane Idalia neared Florida, the couple worried one of the heavy, Spanish moss-drooped limbs would smash their roof.

Despite that worry, they fell asleep right after the 11 p.m. news.

Jessica Shyer stands by her car that was crushed by an oak tree, estimated to be 80 feet tall, during Hurricane Idalia in Cross City, Fla. on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023.
Jessica Shyer stands by her car that was crushed by an oak tree, estimated to be 80 feet tall, during Hurricane Idalia in Cross City, Fla. on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023.

“Staying awake, we really wouldn’t be able to do anything,” Sharlene said.

They slept through the worst of the storm. And, when they woke up, they were surprised. While twigs and leaves covered their roof and lay thick across their yard, there wasn’t much damage.

“It wasn't too bad,” Alex said.

Then he saw his neighbor's place.

"It was terrible," he said. "You couldn't even see their cars, because the tree had them covered."

Shyer, meanwhile, says she'd been more worried about the Jerrells, considering the limbs hanging over their house.

"I knew we'd be OK, until we weren't," Shyer said.

How to help

With Tallahassee escaping the brunt of Hurricane Idalia's wrath, this story is part of a continuing series profiling hard-hit communities. USA Today Network-Florida First Amendment reporter Douglas Soule is based in Tallahassee, Fla. He can be reached at DSoule@gannett.com. Twitter: @DouglasSoule.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Cross City couple faced near death during Hurricane Idalia