Four Florida hurricanes spared this mobile home owned by Erma Stevens, of North Bay. Photo submitted. ____________________________________________________________
Hurricanes Charlie, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne huffed and puffed, but just didn’t seem to want to blow Erma Stevens’ mobile home over.
Erma, proprietor of the eponymous variety store at the corner of Fisher and Worthington streets, spends six months every year in Pinellas Park, Florida, in the mobile home she and her partner Mel Wilson have owned since 2001.
Pinellas Park, near Tampa, sat in the path of the hurricanes.
Through good fortune or meteorological vagaries, though, they either veered away from the city at the last moment or didn’t hit full force.
“There was a lot of wind and rain, and while there was some damage in our park, our place didn’t receive as much as a scratch,” Stevens said.
She kept in daily touch with contacts on both Florida coasts, and the reports usually led her to breathe a sigh of relief.
Stevens has been going to Florida for 20 years now and has never experienced any losses due to hurricanes
This time around the mobile home may have received a little help, Steven said.
It’s located, for one thing, on a hill in the mobile home park, which help keeps water out during major storms.
“There’s also a great big super Wal-Mart next door and that could have broken the wind too,” Stevens said.
Her customers, on the other hand, have a different explanation.
“They tell me they were praying for me,” Stevens said.
“But I think we’ve been really lucky. It’s got to be luck.”
While there may be more hurricanes brewing, Stevens believes the worst is over.
"Come Nov. 1 we'll be out of here and on our way to Florida. And what a relief to know we'll have something to go back to."
