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Jun 29, 2023

How one woman weathered the storm

Family members and friends of Peggy Gaspard, 91, go over the details with an utility worker as the crew prepared to restore power. Anyone driving down Northeast 19th Street through the Woodland

Family members and friends of Peggy Gaspard, 91, go over the details with an utility worker as the crew prepared to restore power.

Anyone driving down Northeast 19th Street through the Woodland Estates development could see that while the sides of the road were filled with water, and in some spots covered the road, the community by-and-large appeared to have weathered Hurricane Idalia.

While debris from trees and other plant life littered the grounds and driveways, damage appeared minimal, except at the home of 91-year-old Peggy Gaspard. To one side of her house, an uprooted tree rested upon the roof of the garage. Fortunately, the tree was a small one and it did not appear as though any serious damage had occurred to the house.

Family members and friends worked to clear away limbs and branches in order to clean off the roof, as well as create a path for utility workers to be able to begin work to restore power to the house.

Inside the house, Gaspard was busy in the kitchen, doing some straightening up. No, she said, she had not stayed in her home during the hurricane.

“I picked her up,” said Will Wilson, a grandson. He had taken her to his home in another part of Crystal River. He and his wife returned the next day to discover her house had been flooded. “When we opened the door the water flowed out.” He pointed to a spot slightly above the baseboard. The water, he said, had reached at least as high as nine inches.

Gaspard, however, was undaunted. Idalia wasn’t the first time her house had flooded, but she did say it was one of the worst.

“In ’93 it was like this,” she said. She was referring to what has become known as the “Storm of the Century.” That storm had occurred in March 12, 1993.

As utility crew members from the Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative pulled up to the house and began preparations to restore power, Gaspard said she had no intention of selling or, at the very least, moving in with family who lived inland. “This is my home.”

You can contact Steve Steiner at [email protected]