Residents return to Orlando senior home abandoned during Hurricane Ian
An Orlando assisted living home that closed because of hurricane flooding is inviting its residents back this week for its grand reopening, marking an end to two years of displacement for its aging and often disoriented population.
About 75 residents vacated The Bridge at Orlando during Hurricane Ian in 2022 because of the storm. The home’s executive director Katrina Beasley said the seniors — many of whom require walkers and wheelchairs to move — waded through five feet of water to be rescued.
“I thought they must have been traumatized,” Beasley said, “but the one thing that I love about my seniors is that they are the most resilient individuals, and they took it.”
Eight residents have returned since The Bridge renewed its assisted living license in May. In the community’s first-floor apartments, Beasley said, the stormwater destroyed the carpeting and kitchenettes, and also infested the building with mildew.
The residents who fled either moved home or to another assisted living space.
Beasley said per the facility’s emergency plans, most residents were temporarily transported after the flood to The Bridge’s sister community, Harbor Place, in Port St. Lucie.
Carol Lyons was among four residents who stayed stayed longer at Harbor Place, a two-hour distance from The Bridge, so they wouldn’t have to move again. Lyons lived in Port St. Lucie for over a year. She said two of the residents who came with her died before they could move back.
“My family is all here in Orlando,” Lyons said. “They live 15 minutes from here, and I could only see them if they could get off on the weekends and come down there.”
Lyons, who uses a wheelchair, said the experience of being evacuated was terrible. She remembered only grabbing a few items because she thought she’d be gone just a handful of days.
“Then all of a sudden here comes the army and the fire department,” she said. “And they started carrying us down in the wheelchairs. When they got me, I said, ‘Please don’t drop me.’”
About 40 other assisted living facilities in the state were flooded by Hurricane Ian, which made landfall in Lee County in September 2022 as a Category 4 hurricane before reaching Central Florida as a tropical storm. Ian is considered one of the deadliest Florida hurricanes, accounting for 149 deaths, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Beasley said a nursing home nearby, Life Care Center of Orlando, is still in the process of reopening after it was flooded. The Bridge never weathered such damages before Ian, and the entire first floor of the building had to be remodeled, she added.
“Many of the residents that I’ve talked to — they really didn’t see this trauma,” Beasley said. “I think they probably were more upset because they wanted to come back to their home sooner, and it was taking a little bit longer than we anticipated.”
The Bridge held its grand reopening Thursday, welcoming about 40 people to a tour of the community.
Richard Tucker, one of the home’s newest residents, said he had no concerns about future emergency flooding at the facility and that he’s hoping more seniors move in. There are currently 12 residents.
“It would be nice,” Tucker said. “I would enjoy that, having more people to talk to.”
Resident Maurice Flemings, 78, said he enjoys the renovations but that he’s especially excited to be back at The Bridge because of the freedoms he can partake in, like reading.
“I was ready to move back in a week later,” Flemings said. “I said, ‘I don’t care if I have to backstroke to my room.’”
