After storm, snowbird couple have had enough, return to Ohio

After a storm ravaged her south Fort Myers apartment complex Friday, Sam Davidson said she was done.

She and her husband Don Davidson packed up their car with help from an Iona-McGregor firefighter and headed back home to Akron, Ohio.

Sam turned 67 years old as the storm passed and her husband will celebrate his 71st birthday next week.  The snowbirds were supposed to head to Key West Monday for a week to celebrate, but instead they are driving north.

"We are going back to Ohio, I don't care what's left here," she said.  "We are on our way."

The Davidsons lived in Florida when Hurricane Charley struck in 2004. She doesn't want  to have to live through another storm of that severity.

"I'm done," Sam said. "It's just so scary."

Their second-floor apartment, which they moved into two months ago, was wrecked. The roof was lifted off the building and landed across the apartment complex and their balcony was unstable.

Tornado hits S. Fort Myers; storm affects much of SW Florida

"We had to take shelter right away," Sam said. "My husband is a retired firefighter so he threw me in the bathtub."

Don went to the bedroom to get more pillows and that's when Sam heard the windows blow out. She called after him, she said. "The water was coming through the holes in the ceiling."

They waited there for about 20 minutes for help to arrive. Sam said she had her phone with her, but didn't call 911. She's unsure who did.

Iona-McGregor Fire & Rescue arrived and helped the couple emerge from their shattered home.

"The building sustained heavy roof damage and outside structural damage," said Iona-McGregor fire battalion Chief Barry Ashman.

"There were not injuries, thank God," Ashman said.

The remainder of the occupants would be allowed back into their homes, he added.

"When you realize there's a tornado blowing over and you survive, everything else is just material items," Ashman said. "You come out thankful."

Sam watched firefighters scour the inside of her home and waited to be allowed in to finish packing. Although shaken, Sam said she is thankful no one was hurt.

"My husband and I are fine, it's a miracle," she said. "You just feel so helpless when it comes."

Instead of the the couple's favorite Key West bed and breakfast, the Conch House, the Davidsons will celebrate their birthdays with family in Akron.

And Sam is OK with that.

"I just want to get home and be with our kids."