Clock With Warsaw Ties Survives Florida HurricaneOf all the things inside their winter home in Naples, Fla., to worry over as Hurricane Irma passed through, it was the clock sitting in their carport that concerned Lisbeth DuBois the most.
The Ridgeway outdoor grandfather clock stands 6 feet tall and weighs 175 pounds. It had been a fixture outside JB’s Furniture store on Center Street in Warsaw for about six years before Dubois inquired about it several years ago.
Soon after, it became a present from her husband for her 70th birthday.
The clock is known by friends as “That Big Clock” and was part of the couple’s lanai, also known as a carport.
As the storm hurdled over Naples, bringing with it a heavy surge of water and wind damage, she thought the worst.
An update came soon after the storm passed on Sept. 10.
“The first thing my neighbor said, ‘The clock’s still there,’” she said. “I was so glad.”
“It was still running when we got there,” she said.
They arrived a week later and were stunned at the overall conditions, but thankful that somehow their home had been greatly spared.
Their home and some of the homes on the street were not destroyed. While their carport structure itself was tossed by Irma into a nearby canal, their house suffered only minor damage.
Flood water was high enough to knock out air conditioning, but did not get into the house, she said.
She credits “The Good Lord” for sparing their property.
But the senior living community they are part of – known as West Wind – was described in one headline by the Naples Daily News as “unlivable.”
“Our street fared very well, but street after street after street after us is just unbelievable,” she said.
“Even when you’re there looking at it, your mind can’t grasp it because we just don’t see things like that.
“It’s like a bomb went off.”
While her street was spared to a certain degree, DuBois said she has friends and neighbors who essentially lost everything.
For some, it is their only home.
As a result, DuBois has established a gofundme.com account to raise money for some of her neighbors hard hit by the storm. The account seeks to raise $15,000 and can be found by searching “Rebuild Irma’s WestWind Devastation.”
