DELTONA, Fla — The clean-up efforts after a storm are both timely and costly, and seeing the damage brings back thoughts of how scary Hurricane Ian was for the Hayden family.

The family has fixed parts of their Deltona home, but they say they still have a long way to go. The damage from Hurricane Ian is not only physical, but is also mentally traumatizing. “I wake up about 3 in the morning to check the kids,” said Steve Hayden.

Steve and his wife Chloe Hayden have an 11-year-old, 13-month-old, and 3-month-old. Steve now does early mornings checks of the house to make sure all of his children are okay, all something he started doing after Ian rolled through the area causing major damage to their home and property. The couple said Hurricane Ian was nothing they have ever experienced before and it was very scary.

It forced them to rip up flooring because mold was forming and replace the dry wall because the flooding saturated the inside of their home. “I mean, our whole house is upside down. The kids so they don’t feel affected so much about it, we try to make it as comfortable for them as we can. There is no floor in here,” explained Steve. “We ripped everything off the floor.”

Their 13-month-old daughter was moved to a different room in the house because the walls in her room were replaced and they took the flooring out.

Steve added at this point they have spent about $3,500 to $4,000 on the remodel. He said FEMA offered them just more than $10,200 for the home repair and $700 for miscellaneous items, but he was hoping for more money because he has to replace doors, the flooring, and walls. The couple also has to remodel their kitchen, which was just remodeled a few weeks before the storm.

“Once you have to go through your whole home and start knocking out it’s, it’s too much. You have to work, you still have to be a parent, you still have to be a good citizen, cook dinner, wake up the kids, get them for school,” explained Chloe. “On top of the house, just being in an uproar.”

Steve’s $50,000 truck was destroyed after the storm. He said an enormous saturated oak tree fell right on his truck, destroying it. Right now, his focus is improving everything in the home for his family. The couple said they saw the water rise from Sunday night into Monday. With more rain in the forecast this week, the couple is hoping they will be spared and won’t be flooded anymore because they say they don’t have the money to keep spending on remodels.