Winter Park Retirement Community Evacuated After Hurricane Ian Damage – Orlando Sentinel

On Wednesday, residents of a Winter Park seniors’ residence called The Mayflower evacuated their apartments with nothing but two suitcases each, after floodwaters from Ian knocked out electrical systems and knocked out elevators. Earth.

In addition, residents had less than 24 hours to leave.

“We go to a retirement community thinking we’re going to be freed from the stress and so on of owning a house and so on. And it is, of course, a very stressful event,” said 90-year-old Diane Greatwood.

The Mayflower parking lot was completely flooded during Hurricane Ian. The floodwaters destroyed cars – including those in Greatwood – and totally submerged electrical systems and lift controls.

Elevators aren’t working, one building has lost power and two others are at risk of losing power, Chairman and CEO Steve Kramer said in communications sent to residents from Sept. 29 to Oct. 7. Letters and a voicemail recording were provided to the Orlando. Sentinel by a relative of a resident who asked to remain anonymous to avoid possible reprisals.

In an Oct. 5 memo, Kramer said The Mayflower was preparing for a possible evacuation and asked residents to take steps to prepare, but on Oct. 7 he sent another memo assuring residents “WE CURRENTLY NOT EVACUATING. And, we have no intention of doing so.

At an emergency meeting on Tuesday afternoon, staff told self-reliant residents they would have to evacuate starting the next morning. Electrical engineers and contractors had told Kramer that the system was unstable and that further assessments could not be made without shutting off the power.

“We didn’t want to risk an unfavorable situation occurring while the residents were in the building – and for this reason moving was the only alternative. We did not consider it prudent to wait any longer,” Kramer wrote in a sent by e-mail response to a Sentinel survey. “We would have preferred planned relocation on short notice rather than relocation under emergency circumstances.”

Kramer said he won’t know how long it will take to fix until the assessments are done.

In the meantime, the Mayflower is paying for residents to stay in hotels and, in some cases, moving them to a newly built health center on site. Hotel residents will be offered meal vouchers, mail and package delivery, transportation services and laundered clothes, Kramer said.

Greatwood thinks the resort should have planned better.

Her hotel is of far lower quality than her home, she said. The residents were given two options, one of which was all the way down by SeaWorld, and she wanted more.

“It wasn’t the Mayflower’s fault that the electrics are clogged with all the water. But we believe it could and should have been handled better,” Greatwood said. “I think they had 10 days to prepare for this move. And I think they should have called some consultants or someone who could have given them some good advice on how to do this better.

Greatwood said residents needed more notice that it was time to evacuate. In response, Kramer pointed to the resort’s Oct. 5 communication, which told residents to pack their bags and be prepared for this eventuality.

Kramer, in a memo sent to residents Sept. 29, said staff attempted to move vehicles to higher ground once it became clear the garage was going to be flooded, but high winds and rising flood waters prevented them from saving everyone’s cars.

They had to stop for their own safety, he said.

“We literally ran out of time and couldn’t reach everyone,” he wrote.

The sandbags gave way and the stormwater systems failed to prevent the garage from being completely submerged, the memo adds.

“I don’t think they started [moving cars] soon enough,” Greatwood said. “We lost our beautiful 4 year old shiny red Cadillac. We went to see him this morning and it just made you cry.

Another resident felt that the evacuation went well.

Prior to the evacuation, residents had spent nearly two weeks without elevator service, resident Ann Hellmuth, 83, said. Hellmuth, a former Sentinel editor, currently lives in the community health center and plans to move into an Airbnb soon with her daughter.

“If this is the worst that happens to us, I don’t think it’s too serious. But I can understand that some of the people who are really disabled, it’s…difficult,” she said.

Hellmuth said she did not blame the apartment complex. She never lost power and experienced no flooding in her fifth-floor, two-bedroom apartment. Staff climbed stairs to bring meals for residents each day.

“You get food delivered. I mean, they came to clean my apartment. And so I think it’s been amazing given those circumstances,” she said. “The staff have been awesome.

An electrician and contractor came in and confirmed there were no apparent safety or structural issues — the move was proactive, Kramer said.

It is only the latest Central Florida facility to be evacuated due to Hurricane Ian.

A total of 106 residents of Avante Orlando, an assisted living facility; and a total of about 200 the Life Care Center of Orlando, a nursing and rehabilitation home, and The Bridge at Orlando, a nearby assisted living facility, were washed out by floodwaters.

The Good Samaritan Society in Kissimmee Village, a retirement community, was flooded for the second time in five years. Residents were told to leave, but some had to be evacuated after the hurricane from dangerous floodwaters. Osceola County officials are considering seizing the land.

Other facilities were evacuated before the storm hit in anticipation of flooding. In many cases, the return date of residents is uncertain.

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