Family Scrapes by After Hurricanes Claim House
By Sarah K. Cron, 11.18.04

Starting high school can be a challenging time for any teenager. But for 14-year-old Cindi Martinez, the burden was especially daunting.

She had to start her freshman year without the comfort of a home. Hurricane Jeanne made sure of that.

“This whole thing has been really hard,” she said.

Her father, Jose Martinez, had been fixing the roof after Hurricane Frances claimed a few shingles. They considered themselves lucky until another hurricane threatened a direct hit to their small community in Fellsmere, Florida. This time, Hurricane Jeanne was not so kind.

Though the house was still standing when they returned, the damage was irreparable. Jeanne’s furious winds and rain thrashed their trailer beyond habitation. The shock of losing it all was hard to absorb.

“The first thing we thought was where were we going to live?” said Rosa Martinez, Cindi’s mother. “Where are the children going to live? My brother also rents a trailer but his floor fell out. Now he and his family are just living on their porch. They don’t have money.”

For weeks, the Martinez lived without electricity or running water. Today, they still sleep outside, under the flimsy protection of their makeshift garage. Even most of that was destroyed during Jeanne.

Security has also become a concern since the trailer roof caved in where the front door would normally swing open. They have caught curious neighbors snooping around to survey the damage and their belongings.

“People were coming and looking. We don’t want to leave,” said Rosa.

To complicate matters, bureaucratic red tape has kept the family trapped in a frustrating loop. When Rosa sought help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, she was told she had to settle with her homeowner’s insurance before they could qualify for any government relief. For more than two weeks, she used the public telephone lines to reach her agency to no avail.

“First I was told I had the wrong number,” she said. “I called another number and kept pressing buttons to talk to a person. I waited and waited as the machine kept telling me ‘thank you for waiting.”

By mid-October, the city of Fellsmere declared the house uninhabitable and told the Martinez family they had two days to move out. Now, without being able to settle with their insurance group, they are forced to continue making mortgage payments on a house that has been officially condemned. Because Jose has only been able to work a few hours a week as a road worker, Rosa said they cannot afford to make these payments, let alone rent on another place.

Despite all this, Cindi along with her 12-year-old sister Brenda and 8-year-old brother Alonzo, maintain at least part of their daily routine. The girls still help their mom with dinner each night. And each still have to be at school at 6:45 a.m. every day.

Cindi says she doesn’t really talk much about her situation with her friends. Instead, she continues about her day, making the best of what some her age might consider a mortifying experience. For a child just a year away from her quincinera, complaining just isn’t a part of her routine.