SARASOTA, Fla. (WFLA) — One year after Hurricane Milton barreled toward Florida’s Gulf Coast, Michelle Wooster said she remembers the imperative urgency.

Wooster, her husband and 4-year-old daughter, Ruby — then 3 years old — left their Sarasota home one day before the storm hit on Oct. 9.

A year later, reminders of that day still hang over their property — literally. Tarps cover part of the roof, towels line the garage floor, and plywood keeps out the rain that still finds its way in.

“We’ve had to replace that over and over,” Wooster said. “A decent tarp is at least $80. And like I said, this is like the sixth one.”

When she first returned home after the storm, the scale of destruction left her in tears.

“I immediately burst into tears cause all of the lights were down. All of the street signs were down. All of these carports, I believe nine in a row, were all blown into our neighbors across the street,” she said. “There was limbs straight through people’s garages. It was a lot. And I’ve lived here my whole life and experienced a lot of hurricanes. But this was my first one as a homeowner.”

Milton’s wind tore through their neighborhood, lifting the family’s carport and hurling it across the street.

“I believe nine in a row were all blown into our neighbors across the street,” Wooster said. “So immediate guilt that, you know, our house did damage to another person’s house.”

The family also lost equipment from their small beekeeping business, including their honey extractor and the vacuum they use for bee rescues.

“We were out-of-pocket about $10,000,” Wooster said. “We lost our water heater. We lost our washer. We lost our dryer and just Christmas decorations.”

But amid the losses, Wooster said she’s grateful for what remains.

“We’re safe. Our house is safe. We have our health. We were OK,” she said. “We lost things. And things are replaceable. And it’s OK. We can rebuild.”

Now, the family is focused on rebuilding — and on celebrating Ruby’s birthday, which was postponed last year. She will finally get the party she missed.

“Ruby’s birthday is in October. We had to postpone her birthday last year. It’s the 28th, so we had a bounce house planned and we had to postpone that,” Wooster said. “So, we’re looking forward to double celebrations this year for sure.”