Joe West worked his entire life in the industry of tourism and hospitality. So when hurricane Irma struck Florida, he did what he does best – opened the doors of his house to neighbors.
And what a door!
73-year-old Joe, his wife Liz and two other couples watched the hurricane from the height of the house-fortress, which for several years has built Joe in Everglades City.
Joe told Miami-Herald: he was aware that the neighbors laughed at the house of his dreams.
«They were laughing and cursing because of the construction of my fortress, but now they took refuge here when the floors of their homes disappeared under the water, that brought Irma,» says the man.
The neighbors were grateful for the opportunity to wait out the hurricane in «five-star evacuation center West», as he calls the house Liz West. Together with people from Irma in the fortress escaped three dogs, three cats and six fish.
At that time, as other houses in the area was virtually destroyed, and Irma, house of Westow on a 21-foot basis, and the piles driven into the sand at 50 feet, stood motionless.
Its Windows were made to withstand wind up to 200 mph. The house is equipped with a backup generator, able to provide even satellite TV. Walls, floors and ceilings are solid concrete. The house also has a telephone station and Wi-Fi (as well as a full bar that also brightened the wait time of the hurricane).
Joe West decided to build his fortress once, as a teenager, survived the «Deadly Donna» — 4 hurricane category that raged in South Florida in September 1960. In the United States, Donna took the life of 50 people. Growing up, Joe said he wanted to build a house that can withstand such hurricanes. He didn’t listen to the naysayers. And so now he and his wife had not even considered the option of evacuation.
«Where are you going?» says Liz West. «Hurricanes and then change direction. You will be stuck on the highway when you run out of gasoline. No, thank you».
«It is not folly,» she adds later. «We were ready from the time when they built the house.»
