GENOA, N.Y. (WSYR) — A Cayuga County native, Debbie Kennedy, was killed by a tornado in Fort Pierce, Florida, hours before Hurricane Milton made landfall on Wednesday.
The 66-year-old moved to the Sunshine State in March from Union Springs, New York, to get an early start on her retirement before her time in the sun came to a tragic end.
“It was very unexpected,” Brandi Smith, Kennedy’s daughter, said. “My mom went down there to retire and just live the rest of her life…happy…doing whatever she wanted.”
Smith said she tried to contact her mother for hours on Wednesday afternoon. After she saw online images of the devastation left behind by the twisters’ path, things went from bad to worse when a Florida official contacted her on Thursday to tell her Kennedy’s body had been identified.