‘This is home’: Dekle Beach residents say community keeps them going after back-to-back storms

DEKLE BEACH, Fla. (WCTV) - If you’ve ever wondered whether it’s worth rebuilding after a disaster, or whether a community can actually come back, Dekle Beach residents may have the answer.

The community was hit hard by three powerful storms within months of each other in 2023 and 2024, leaving homes destroyed and families starting over.

But even after all the loss, many residents say they are not going anywhere.

Laurie and Hud Lilliott say they have spent their lives coming to Dekle Beach, first visiting on weekends as kids before eventually making it their full-time home as adults.

“Just growing up your whole lives down here, whether we lived at home, we’d come down here every weekend, then moving down here permanently, I don’t know, it’s just the best place in the world for us,” Hud Lilliott said.

That home, along with many others, was heavily damaged after three storms in 13 months.

“It was gut-wrenching coming around those curves coming up here, I mean, just hoping that your house is here, but just looking at everything that was in the trees, the debris, just knew it was going to be bad,” Hud Lilliott said.

Now, almost two years later, the couple says they are finally back home after moving into their rebuilt house at the beginning of April.

“Like the biggest burden, not burden but weight has been lifted,” Hud Lilliott said. “It’s just a big sigh of relief, finally. A year and a half, and get to walk through the door and just sleep in your own bed again, so good.”

Even though they could have rebuilt somewhere else, Laurie Lilliott says there was never really another option.

“There’s just nowhere else, this is home, and it’s not just the geographic area that makes it home, it’s the people here that make it home,” she said.

That same feeling is shared by many families across Dekle Beach, including Hope Webb and her family.

“You know I tell myself all the time like I don’t think I could do it again, but realistically, I mean, you know we’ve been through the worst, I mean, it could happen again absolutely, but a million other things could happen too, and you can’t live your life in fear,” Webb said.

Unlike the Lilliotts, Webb says her family is still waiting to move back home because of insurance challenges.

“Oh, it’s been ridiculously challenging; we’re going on almost two years now. We’re still not back in our house; we’re still living in our tiny house and campers and things like that,” Webb said.

Still, she says they are determined to stay.

“The beauty of it is that 90% of the people that live here still here we want to be here, we’ve always been here, we’ll continue to be here,” Webb said.

Just down the road, Jared Hunt, owner of Beach Bums gas station and convenience store in Keaton Beach and a homeowner in Dekle Beach, says both his business and home were also heavily damaged.

“Our business was wiped away completely through Hurricane Helene. Our house was damaged pretty badly from the same hurricane; we’ve not been able to live there since. We’re still fighting with insurance at both places, the store and the house still,” Hunt said.

Hunt says progress is slowly being made. The store is now operating in a temporary setup with fuel backup and running, while rebuilding at home continues.

“It’s definitely been nice to see new houses and stuff come up, and people are making progress. Our situation has not been that fast, but we see the light at the end of the tunnel; it’s coming, it just takes time to get there,” Hunt said.

For many families in Dekle Beach, they say the decision to stay comes down to one thing — family and community.

“Me and my wife grew up here, so my mother was raised here as well, so we know pretty much everybody between mine and my wife’s family. So, it’s kinda just a close-knit community. Most of these people have known us since we were in diapers, so just didn’t want to leave,” Hunt said.

While some families are finally back home and others are still waiting, many say the sense of community is what keeps them going.

“I think it’s just the sense of community and you know the fact that even through the most devastating of times, it’s these people that come together and just make it what it is, is why you want to be back here,” Webb said.

Today, Dekle Beach may look different from what it did two years ago, but residents say what matters most has stayed the same.

“This beach has hung in there, yeah. Everybody is here,” Hud Lilliott said.

To keep up with the latest news as it develops, follow WCTV on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Nextdoor and X (Twitter).

Have a news tip or see an error? Write to us here. Please include the article’s headline in your message.

Be the first to see all the biggest headlines by downloading the WCTV News app. Click here to get started.