'It's a total loss': Destroyed homes remain in Spanish Lakes Country Club Village

ST. LUCIE COUNTY — Holiday decorations adorned some homes Tuesday in Spanish Lakes Country Club Village, but elsewhere in the 330-acre community, scenes of ruin from deadly tornadoes two months ago remain clearly visible.

Sitting on her front porch on Montoya, an oval-shaped street on the western part of the community in northern St. Lucie County, Melanie Hardegree, 60, can see more than 11 destroyed homes around her.

“It’s been traumatic. It’s still traumatic, sitting, seeing it every day,” Hardegree said. “It's going to be traumatic when they tear all these houses down.”

Tornadoes ahead of Hurricane Milton damaged or wrecked dozens of homes in the community on Oct. 9 , ripping off roofs and leaving a swath of destruction.

Six people died.

Hurricane Milton, as of Nov. 19, is determined to have destroyed 180 homes; caused major damage to 238 homes; and minor damage to 1,195 in St. Lucie County, including Fort Pierce and Port St. Lucie, according to St. Lucie County records.

At least 11 tornadoes hit St. Lucie, Martin and Indian River counties on Oct. 9 from Hurricane Milton’s outer rain bands, according to the National Weather Service.

In Spanish Lakes Country Club Village, Barry Lamb, 68, and his wife, Kathy Kish, 70, lost their Montoya home. The roof and windows were blown out, and insulation, clothing and household items still litter the scene.

They were there when the tornadoes came through. Afterward they stayed with Hardegree before leaving to stay with Kish’s sister in Pensacola. Lamb said they couldn’t get a room locally because of their cats, Bob and Libby.

“It’s a lot cleaner than it was,” Lamb said Tuesday. “You couldn’t even walk down the road.”

Hardegree’s home, which she said was built in 2021, is concrete block, but now she needs to replace her roof and solar panels. Additional work also must be done.

“But I have insurance, and I'm very blessed, and I'm going to be able to get all of that taken care of,” Hardegree said.

Lamb, who said he’d lived there since December 2005, said they apparently missed an initial FEMA inspection, but got one Monday — two months to the day of the tornadoes.

Lamb also said the storm moved his 1986 Ford pickup and “wrapped it around” a palm tree.

The FEMA inspection will allow Lamb to get money from the federal government toward a down payment on another place in the park.

“We couldn't do anything with this … until FEMA comes in and declares this a disaster,” Lamb said. “It's a total loss.”

For now, Lamb and Kish are staying in a hotel in Port St. Lucie, he said.

Delbert Johnston, 63, said his home in Spanish Lakes wasn’t damaged. He lives six months in Massachusetts and six months here.

It appeared much of the damage was near the northern and western portions of the Spanish Lakes community. Many homes near the entrance toward the south appeared unscathed. After the tornadoes, only residents were allowed in.

Johnston said he thought park management was doing the “best they can” in the aftermath of the tornadoes.

Messages left Tuesday with representatives of Spanish Lakes Country Club Village were not returned.

“I’m very optimistic now, because I am seeing movement forward, and they're starting to demolish some of the homes that were completely destroyed that we've been sitting here looking at for the last two months, and breathing the debris,” Hardegree said.

Hardegree organized a GofundMe page to help Lamb and Kish at: https://gofund.me/ee95e8af

Will Greenlee is a breaking news reporter for TCPalm. Follow Will on X @OffTheBeatTweet or reach him by phone at 772-267-7926. E-mail him at will.greenlee@tcpalm.com.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Wrecked homes remain in Spanish Lakes Country Club Village in SLC