HERNANDO COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — Many people across the Tampa Bay area are still recovering from Hurricane Irma. That includes one widow in Hernando County whose house caught fire during the storm. Now, she is left with nothing.
Staring in disbelief is all Carmen Miranda and her daughter can do when they look at what’s left of a house filled with memories.
“I lost everything. My husband’s urn, my mother’s urn, my dad’s urns, everything I own for 77 years, memories, I cannot get that back,” said Miranda.
On the night Hurricane Irma swept through town, a transformer blew causing a problem that was irreversible.
“I was going to die. The first thing I thought of was getting my cousin out. Because she is blind and handicapped and I couldn’t get back in the house to get my birds,” said Miranda.
Now, there’s no house to get into at all. No car. No anything.
“Crazy woman outside in the pouring rain, just in a housecoat and that’s all I had,” she said. “Then I was wearing my grandson’s clothes who is 6’5 for three days until my girlfriends chipped in and bought me clothes.”
This all coming from a woman who has spent her life helping others.
“I’m the one who does everything and I don’t want anything for nothing so this is hurting me,” she said.
A hurtful time. A time where she needs others to help.
“For those that want to donate, whatever you do is fine with me because when you have nothing, something is better than nothing,” she said.
Rookies Sports Bar and Grill in Spring Hill will donate 20 percent of food sales until 10 p.m. Wednesday.A GoFundMe account has also been set up to help Miranda.
