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COCOA -- When most Central Florida residents remember the state's worst hurricanes, Wilma won't make the list. But don't say that to the folks on Stratford Drive.
More than two weeks after the fast-moving storm caused only minor damage across the center of the state, heaps of molded carpet, ruined furniture and sewage-soaked bedding still line the curb on the winding road west of Cocoa in Brevard County.
"I'm just so weary," Lillie Mae Dunkinson, 72, said this week as she and her husband, Myron, 76, hauled another load of stuff to the edge of the street. "This is a horrible, horrible mess."
A fetid brew of rainwater and raw sewage chased the couple and more than 200 neighbors from their modest houses on Stratford and nearby streets. In some cases, airboats were used to rescue stranded residents, while animal-control officers saved 15 horses and dozens of cats and dogs.
Because most of the residents don't have flood insurance, a $5,400 check from the Federal Emergency Management Agency might be all they get to start over.
"It's heartbreaking," Strob said. "A lot of these things belonged to my mom, and I lost her eight years ago. The beautiful bedroom set she gave me was ruined."
"I just felt like it was better not knowing," she said. "The only things I have left are the family album, the china cabinet and crystal she gave me, and her ashes."
At least 1,156 Brevard residents have applied for federal assistance since Wilma, FEMA spokesman Hugo Buehring said. He could not say Thursday how many of those applications have been approved, but so far, the agency has handed out at least $243,429 for minor home repairs or temporary housing and $106,106 for other essentials.
"I've lived here 37 years and have never, ever had water in my house,'' said Lillie Mae Dunkinson, who now has to wear a mask to protect herself from the black mold growing on the walls and ceiling of her three-bedroom, two-bath home.
Pritchard also suggested that residents buy flood insurance even if they don't live in a flood zone or their insurance companies don't require it.
"We always encourage people to get it whether they are in a flood zone or not,'' said Nancy Smith, a spokeswoman for the county's emergency-management office.
Lillie Mae Dunkinson said she and her husband, a retired Marine, have gone through more than their share of hurricanes. They also are among the few homeowners on Stratford Drive who have flood insurance.
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