The House He Built: A Florida Homeowner Rebuilds After Hurricane Helene

When Hurricane Helene made landfall less than 25 miles from Anthony Lawson’s town in Florida’s Big Bend on September 26, 2024, he stayed inside the house he had designed and built himself. “I built this house with my own hands,” he said. “It had been through hurricanes and a tornado. I didn’t want to leave it.”

His home was built with salvaged lumber, sturdy doors from an old building, and wood from pine and cypress trees he cut himself to raise the walls board by board. Even while battling severe heart disease and undergoing bypass surgery, he pressed on. “I didn’t make mistakes I couldn’t fix.” 

Anthony is a go-getter and a fixer. He didn’t have formal training in carpentry – he learned the trade working for his dad and uncle. When he was done building his home, he went back to school and earned a degree in geo-environmental sciences. 

But Hurricane Helene tested the strength of Anthony’s house and his resolve. His home sits in the woods near the Suwannee River in Lafayette County, surrounded by tall oaks and pines reaching 80 to 90 feet. 

Enduring the Worst–and Staying

When the storm swept through, those trees became a serious threat. The 140 mph winds were deafening, bending and snapping trunks all around his home. “I have never seen wind that hard,” Anthony said. “If it hadn’t stopped, there would have been nothing left of my house.”

Helene’s winds caused widespread destruction across north Florida. Many rural communities, including Lafayette County, endured the eastern eyewall, the part of a hurricane where winds are strongest and last the longest. Trees toppled, power lines went down, and buildings were damaged. Across all affected states, 65 people lost their lives, 61 of them due to falling trees.

At the height of the storm, a large oak near Anthony’s house gave way. It crashed across the front of his roof, breaking through the ceiling and opening a leak into a light fixture. With his health limiting what repairs he could make himself, Anthony worried whether the house could make it through another season.

That’s when he turned to SBP for help. Eight months after the storm, Anthony heard about the nonprofit’s work in Florida and realized there was a way to finally fix his roof. With his health keeping him from making the repairs himself, he partnered with SBP’s team in July 2025 and, a couple of weeks later, they installed a FORTIFIED roof built to withstand the high winds and hurricane conditions that had battered his home.

“I appreciate it more than they know,” he said. “It definitely was a blessing. If it hadn’t been for them, I don’t know what I’d have done.”

For him, SBP’s support wasn’t just about shingles or boards. It’s the peace of knowing his home can endure future storms.

“I’ve been through three hurricanes. This house didn’t move,” Anthony said. “I’m gonna stay right here.”

Read SBP’s Hurricane Helene and Milton One-Year Impact Update