Six children sit in an air-conditioned van with “StoryBots” playing in the background. They watch as their mom moves lumber in the pouring rain. She carries armfuls of wood up two flights of stairs into their house hours before Hurricane Dorian is expected to hit coastal North Carolina.
The three-story duplex overlooks the sound side of Topsail Beach and sits on stilts that raise the house 10 feet off the ground. Under the house, an empty tire swing blows in the wind next to stacks of scrap wood and piles of pink insulation. After moving the lumber, home owner Kristin Tortorici measures and cuts scrap wood to put in front of doors to keep them from blowing open. Her blond hair is still tied in a tight bun, a reminder of her day job as an active duty Marine officer. Her husband Joe Tortorici, also a Marine officer, is stationed out of state.
“I’m just defeated and frustrated, especially with my husband being in Virginia and utterly worthless. He’s totally useless in all of this,” she said and let out a half laugh half sigh. “It’s so overwhelming. It’s so overwhelming.”
The smell of fresh paint still lingers in their waterfront home. Baseball caps hang on hooks in the hallway waiting to be grabbed as kids rush out the door, but no one has lived in the house for nearly a year. Renovations from September 2018’s Hurricane Florence were just nearing an end when Hurricane Dorian’s name started circulating. When Tortorici went to bed the night before Dorian was expected to hit, the storm was a Category 1. When she woke up, it was a Category 3.
“Up until about 8 o’clock this morning I wasn’t really taking it as seriously. We took the last one so seriously and we boarded up windows and we did all this stuff and we were still screwed,” she said. “It’s going to be what it’s going to be.”
Driving through Surf City, faded and tattered blue tarps still cover roofs waiting to be repaired. Locals joke that they should use green tarps after Hurricane Dorian so they can determine which hurricane caused what damage.
“I feel like a lot of people are kind of like in shock that it’s happening again. And there’s this sense of defeat that’s set in before we even have a chance to overcome it,” Tortorici said.
Tortorici compares waiting for a hurricane to being stalked by a turtle. Dorian is expected to hit during the night.
“I’m terrified for tonight. It’s going to sound like a train over the house. It’ll be pitch black, middle of the night, the power I’m sure will be out by then,” she said. “It’s just going to be me and my babies hunkered down somewhere. I don’t even know where. It’s such a small house, there’s no interior room.”
Hurricane Florence
After Florence, 16,000 structures in Onslow County were uninhabitable, according to the county Emergency Services. The rental homes in the area were quickly snapped up, leaving many families in less than ideal conditions. The Tortoricis moved into a two bedroom home. All six children share the master bedroom: two on the bed, two on a mattress on the floor and a toddler in each of the two portable cribs.
“So many houses were destroyed or had damage and people had to move out. The rental market was gone, there was nothing available,” she said. “We didn’t have anywhere else to go.”
The Tortorici children range in age from two-year-old twins to 10 years old. The mornings in the tiny house are hectic. Tortorici sits on the edge of the couch and brushes her daughter’s hair. One of her two-year-old twins sit on her lap while the other children finish their cereal at the table a few feet away.
“If I planned better, I’d go in and pull out all their clothes the night before. But, inevitably I forget and I’m scrambling in the morning to dig through their dresser drawers,” she said. “They each have one drawer. There is only one dresser.”
Because their rental house is outside the school district, the older kids could no longer ride the bus to school and have to be dropped off. After breakfast, the four older children shuffle out to the car carrying backpacks, musical instruments and sports equipment while the younger two stay home with a baby-sitter. At each child’s school drop-off, Tortorici yells reminders about after school activities over her shoulder as van doors close and she inches down the drop-off line. She said the hurricane has impacted more than their home life, and said it has extended into her professional life as well.
“The chief of staff said, ‘You can’t even make it to work on time because you were dropping your kids off at school. How are you going to magically be able to deploy and make sure your kids are taken care of?’” She said and shook her head.
The family was initially going to move back into their home in August. That deadline was pushed back until mid-September. Then it was put on hold to await the outcome of Hurricane Dorian.
Hurricane Dorian Aftermath
Dorian hit Surf City in the early morning on Sept. 5. Almost immediately after, the sun returned to coastal North Carolina. The hurricane was a Category 1 when it reached the state and poured about eight inches of rain on the area. In preparation for the hurricane, Tortorici laid paper bags on the floor of their home so she would know if water got in incase they weren’t able to return to their homes right away. Tortorici waited until late afternoon to check on her home.
“I definitely had a little sense of dread,” she said. “Neighbors told me they can’t even tell a hurricane came through, but I was still slightly nervous.”
But the outcome was much better this time.
“We fared pretty good. We did have one door that leaked, but the good news is we didn’t have any other water or wind damage. I’m relieved it wasn’t bad, but the emotional stress of it…” she trailed off.
The stress, planning, preparing and waiting on major hurricanes two years in a row still isn’t enough to make her want to find a new home, she said.
“It’s worth it. I think it’s an anomaly. I can’t imagine I would have to deal with this every year,” she said. “But if it happens again next year, I’m out.”