A TALE OF SURVIVAL, COURAGE

BY CHARLES WALKER, Mobile District

“It was like 100 pressure washers going on all at once.” Those were the words of Kelly Bunting, a park ranger with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Mobile District at the Lake Seminole Project Office, who, along with her husband, Nate, a biologist with the Florida Wildlife Commission (FWC), their nine-year-old daughter, Norah, and their Boston Terrier, Roxie, survived the harrowing ordeal known as Hurricane Michael.

When you have a hurricane barreling down on you, bringing with it 130 mph hurricane-force winds, and you happen to live in the middle of the forest, where trees are already beginning to fall around you, the time to evacuate has already passed. Now you have to improvise and strategize to survive.

Kelly Bunting, a Mobile District park ranger at the Lake Seminole Project, her husband, Nate, and her daughter, Norah, pose in front of their bulldozer behind their house on Oct. 16, 2018, in Sneads, Florida. The Buntings survived Hurricane Michael by riding out the Category 4 storm in their bulldozer.

USACE Photo by Chuck Walker

That is just what the Buntings did as they rode out and lived through Hurricane Michael.

Thanks to some quick thinking by Nate, the Buntings got into their bulldozer and rode out into an area on their property where there was no possibility for trees to fall on them, waiting for the storm and winds to finally pass.

Four long, and sometimes terrifying, hours later, the Buntings had survived their ordeal – thankful to have come out of it alive.

“We didn’t evacuate, because we never expected a hurricane to still be a Category 4 storm when it came 80 miles inland,” Kelly said. “After we saw the first tree go down, my husband did some quick thinking and came up with the idea of getting in a bulldozer and driving to an area where no trees could fall on us and we would be safe from fallen debris. And we just sat in the bulldozer, waiting for the storm to end.”

As Kelly, Nate, Norah, and Roxie waited out the storm, they watched grimly as Hurricane Michael lifted up and smashed the pole barns – essentially, large carports – that housed Nate’s FWC vehicles. The Bunting family also saw numerous trees around their house — the life blood of Nate’s work with the FWC — snap, break, and fall right before their eyes.

With what she described as seeming like 100 pressure washers blasting at once all around the bulldozer, Kelly continued recalling her family’s survival in the onslaught of the storm.

“We saw everything being blown all around. We saw humongous pine trees and oaks snap and break right around our house. During all that time, we could not see what was happening to our house.”

To Kelly’s amazement, nothing significant happened to her house, as only a small corner of her roof received minor damage. Another thing that surprised Kelly was the resilience of her daughter.

Kelly said Norah rode out the storm just fine and showed no signs of fear.

“We got into the bulldozer and Norah had her tablet with her and she was just focused the whole time on her game. I don’t think she ever felt extremely scared. I just hope she isn’t too traumatized by the whole experience.”

The help and care the Buntings have received from the USACE and FWC families has really touched them. Kelly said the support their co-workers have provided has helped them recover and be thankful.

“The support we have received has just been wonderful. They have been calling and texting, checking on us. To have Col. [Sebastien P.] Joly come by and visit, that meant so much. Nate’s FWC co-workers from Pensacola and Tallahassee have all come and helped us clean up and helped to make the house safe. They have been very supportive.”

The one thing Kelly said has affected her the most from Hurricane Michael is the devastation the storm left behind in an area near and dear to her heart.

“The first place I lived after I got my master’s degree was Panama City [Florida]. I love this place. I’m just so distraught for everybody.”

Overall, Bunting said she is truly thankful to have survived the storm and also thankful for her husband’s quick thinking to have their family literally ride out a hurricane in a bulldozer.

“I’m thankful that my family and I are alive. I’m thankful that our house survived. This area is so devastated. I’m extremely thankful for the presence of mind of my husband. I’m thankful for our lives and our house. It could have been so much worse. I’m thankful that we were able to find a safe place and that we made it through.”