In the midst of crumbled homes and flooded communities stands a single Florida development that survived Hurricane Helene without a scratch.
Hunters Point, a housing development in Cortez, Florida, avoided flooding and kept electricity while nearby streets were filled waist-deep with water and houses lost power.
The community’s first residents arrived in 2022 and have since experienced three devastating hurricanes – Ian, Idalia and Helene – without serious damage.
This is no coincidence. Hunters Point’s developer, Marshall Gobuty, planned for these sturdy homes to have minimal trouble during hurricanes. He said ‘sustainability and resilience’ were the focal points of the project.
Hunters Point salesperson Shaun Williams told DailyMail.com: ‘Marshall saw a need for a community like this for a home that’s almost self-sufficient.
Avenue B – just blocks away from unscathed Hunters Point – was devastated by Hurricane Helene storm surges
Hunters Point storm-proofed homes survived Hurricane Helene with their unique protective features
An aerial view of the storm-proofed Hunters Point neighborhood in Cortez, Florida
‘You’re generating, on any given day, significantly more energy than you’re using. He felt that there was a need for that, especially in Florida.
‘Why sacrifice location for a good quality product that can sustain storms?’
Before the disaster-proof homes were built, Gobuty’s team spent 18 months testing and altering their design. The entire developmental process took five years to ensure that the homes would be energy efficient while surviving natural disasters.
Gobuty told DailyMail.com: ‘Climate change is real, climate change is here, and we have to build homes that deal with it.’
The result: ultra-solid homes made with steel, concrete, lumber and hard foam.
These homes are elevated and the neighborhood’s roads are raised to prevent flood damages.
Gobuty told DailyMail.com: ‘The first floor of the house, you’re actually 16 feet above the flood zone. So it just gives people that confidence and it obviously gives insurance companies the confidence that this home won’t flood.’
Steel straps connect the floors and the roof is completely made of steel. The first floor of every home is a solid concrete layer.
Hunters Point can be seen right behind homes that there hit hard by Hurricane Helene
A map shows which areas of Cortez, Florida were flooded (red) and which areas were spared (green). Hunters Point was safe from floods and power outages
Hunters Point sits across the road from homes that were flooded waist-deep
Walls are framed with two-by-six lumber pieces – standard homes only use two-by-four pieces of wood – and filled with hard foam insulation.
The windows are all PGT Hurricane grade, meaning they are designed to withstand storms.
Solar panels are connected to vertical seams on the roofs, which makes them less likely to fly off during hurricanes or other storms.
These solar panels connect to back-up batteries to power the homes during power outages. So, on Thursday when power went out in Cortez, these batteries turned on to keep Hunters Point’s lights on.
When batteries are in ’emergency mode’, they stay fully charged just in case power goes out.
Hurricane Helene storm surges caused destruction the community near Hunters Point
more videos
- 1
- 2
- 3
Debris and clutter from homes affected by the hurricane piled up outside
Developers discovered that even if the sun did not come out to charge the batteries, they could still power the homes for about 10 days.
Gobuty told DailyMail.com: ‘We’re generating our own power, and we’re actually generating more power than the house needs.’
Normally, when there are no natural disasters going on, the solar panels still help keep electric bills low because they produce more energy than the houses need.
Swales – sunken grassy areas – are placed between the homes to direct water to a retention system, which is essentially a pond that fills with all the water that could have ended up flooding the homes.
Williams said there are two retention ponds, but one is still being built. The functioning pond is in the middle of the community and all the water drains into there.
Rod and Kelly Darrow’s Cortez vacation home, just blocks away from Hunters Point, was destroyed by four-foot storm surges
The front of Hunters Point community, where residents first arrived in 2022
He told DailyMail.com: ‘The way the roads are built, they’re some-what slanted for run-off.’
Williams said that some water and debris made is close to the development, but there was ultimately no harm done.
He said: ‘I know at least the one person I talked to had power through the storm even when the county lost power.
‘There wasn’t any damage to any homeowners – no water damage.
‘So, from my understanding, everybody seems very happy.’
Gobuty was pleased with how well Hunters Point held up during the storm. ‘I couldn’t dream it to be better because it was such a rough storm,’ he added.
Only seven or eight people live in the Hunters Point community full time.
Hunters Point is still being built up, only 31 of the 86 homes are completely built. The houses sell for more than $1.25million.
A boast washed up from the storm near Avenue B in Cortez, Florida
An overview shot of 124th Street featuring the homes that were flood by the storm while Hunters Point was unscathed in the distance
The development is based in the idea of ‘generation sustainability’, according to Hunters Point’s website.
The website reads: ‘We have proven that building responsibly does not mean sacrificing on luxury. Begin customizing your property today and build the home you have always dreamed of owning.’
Meanwhile, residents of surrounding neighborhoods faced the wrath of storm surges that flooded and destroyed their homes.
Kelly and Rod Darrow from Illinois have owned their Cortez, Florida home for three years. They said that four-foot storm surges devastated their property.
A look at the Cortex homes that faced the brunt of Hurricane Helene storm surges
There are 31 Hunters Point homes completely built out of the planed 86
Gary McAllister’s Cortez home of 35 years was flooded. He said he was warned to flee the area before the storm picked up, but he did not want to leave his house.
He told DailyMail.com that the surges and flooding caused by the storm were ‘insane’ and said that water came up higher than his home’s windows.
McAllister described the water that came into his house as ‘bilge pump’ water, meaning it was contaminated from when the storm caused these pumps to burst.
‘And it was bilge pump – if anybody knows anything about a bilge pump – oil and stuff in your bilge. You know, we’re in a fishing village,’ he said.
Gary McAllister’s home of 35 years was flooded by storm surges. The resident said he has never seen a storm so severe
Hurricane Helene began wreaking havoc on Florida’s Gulf Coast on Thursday night as a Category 4 hurricane.
The storm has left millions of people throughout the southeast without power.
The situation has left people desperate for government aid. One TikTok user wrote, ‘Many people are stranded with little to nothing.. WHERE IS FEMA?’
The storm’s death toll has risen to over 130 people.
FEMA’s website says the organization has over 800 staff members ‘supporting states affected by the hurricane.’
Damaged items and furniture sit along Cortez roads
A mattress and other cushions sit outside a Cortez home in the aftermath of the storm surges
Places like Swannanoa, North Carolina, have been left in ruins, with homes uprooted from their foundations and flooding throughout the area.
About one-third of the storm’s death toll is from Asheville, North Carolina.
Government, states and localities are leading recovery efforts for the people left without running water and power in ravaged neighborhoods.