WELLINGTON — The boarded and shuttered single-story home on the cul-de-sac on Canosa Court in the Lakefield Community of the village was eerily quiet.
Lifeless.
Homeowner Carter McMasters, the popular teacher and coach at Wellington Landings Middle School, negotiated the darkness, pointing to where the golf cart that was lifted into the garage ceiling sat, where the barrier that separated the garage from the playroom once stood, where the wall between the family room and master bedroom came crashing down on the bed.
And the saferoom where Carter, his wife Danielle and their children, 6-year-old Riley and 4-year-old Hudson, hunkered when an EF3 tornado, one with 140-mph winds, spawned by Hurricane Milton ripped through the western communities, leaving a 21-mile swath of destruction.
That room, a walk-in closet approximately 4 feet by 4 feet, separating the master bedroom from the bathroom, is now empty, save shelves and racks to hang clothes. But on Oct. 9, around 4:45 p.m., with Danielle having prepared the area with pillows and a lantern, the family took shelter.