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Veteran's RV home destroyed by Hurricane Debby
A 70-year-old veteran is returning home to collect his belongings after Hurricane Debby flipped over his RV three weeks ago. Initially, one person was reported to be taken to the hospital, but the storm's aftermath was only the beginning of Bryant Culpepper's struggles.
COCOA, Fla. - A senior still doesn’t have a home after his RV was destroyed during one of Hurricane Debby’s outer rainbands that struck the Space Coast.
Brevard County wasn’t expecting to take direct impacts from the hurricane in early August, but some people living at an RV park in Cocoa still lost everything and are struggling to rebuild nearly three weeks later.
"Here it comes," said Bryant Culpepper, who says he will never forget the day his life turned upside down – literally.
Bryant says he was relaxing for the evening when he heard the storm around 6:30 p.m. inching closer to his RV.
"It’s pretty amazing I survived it because everything in the RV, including the fridge, were tossed around like it were toys, and I was in the middle of it," said the storm survivor.
The 70-year-old veteran was inside his camper in Cocoa when strong storms and high winds from Hurricane Debby sent his home airborne.
"The wind picked up the RV and spun it and then slammed it to the ground," said Bryant who was the only person transported to the hospital during the storm. "Everything in the RV went topsy-turvy, scared me quite a bit."
Bryant was taken to the ER. He survived the storm, but that was just the beginning of his struggles.
"We told him we were going to do everything we could to help, and he wasn’t going to be facing the streets," said Anna Dahl who had no idea who Bryant was until just a few weeks ago.
Bryant was headed for the streets after he was discharged from the hospital with several spinal fractures.
He had nowhere to go, until two strangers swooped in to help.
"We need to come together. We need to stay together, and we need to start helping each other," said Tyler Dahl.
Together, Anna and Tyler run a community outreach in Brevard called "Our Friends and Neighbors" to help people in need. The couple knew they had to step in to support the senior who had lost everything.
"We’re just taking it step by step," said Anna who immediately took to Facebook trying to spread awareness about Bryant’s situation and start collecting donations to help him get back on his feet.
The steps she took lead to an outpouring of support and donations to help Bryant start to rebuild.
"Everything that I own was ruined," said the senior.
FOX 35’s Esther Bower met the trio together and asked Bryant if he’d ever seen so many people coming together to help before.
"No, no," he responded. "What these two have done is just amazing. It’s like a savior. Somebody came and helped."
The perfect strangers did whatever they could to help the senior whose situation could happen to anyone. Bryant had a home, until he didn’t.
"It can really happen to anybody," said Tyler. "It could be any of us."
Now, he has new friends for the rest of his life. Bryant is still recovering at an assisted care facility and hopes he can move out and find new housing sometime soon.
If you’d like to help Bryant recover, rebuild or donate, you can connect with Anna at her Facebook page by clicking HERE.