Michelle Cartaya, 55, works for a commercial citrus grower in Sumter County.
“We grow, I think it’s about 36 different varieties right now,” she said. “We grow … oranges … lemons, limes, more exotic citrus, like yuzu, kalamandans [and] kumquats.”
At work, Cartaya cares for thousands of citrus trees inside enormous screenhouses, which are like greenhouses “covered in a heavy, sunlight-resistant plastic.” She is tasked with planting, trimming, watering and pest management of the trees, which are eventually sold directly to growers or retailed at a garden center.
Luckily, Cartaya said her place of work — and her Dade City home — sustained minimal damage throughout the 2024 hurricane season.
“We were very fortunate with all three hurricanes,” Cartaya said. “I feel very grateful that the extent of the damage wasn’t worse. I know people who have lost everything.”
“That $600 is literally your grocery money, or it’s your utility bill and your car insurance. It’s coming from somewhere and it’s not being replenished.”Michelle Cartaya
For Cartaya, the most significant impacts from the trio of powerful hurricanes this season were financial.
This week, WUSF is telling the stories of people who are returning to work after Hurricanes Debby, Helene and Milton.
“I missed one day of work for Hurricane Debby," Cartaya said. "I missed one day of work for Hurricane Helene. And I missed three and a half days of work for Hurricane Milton.”
Cartaya said those lost days left a $600 deficit in her monthly budget.
“That $600 is literally your grocery money, or it’s your utility bill and your car insurance,” she said. “It’s coming from somewhere and it’s not being replenished.”
Cartaya unsuccessfully tried recouping her losses by retroactively applying for disaster unemployment.
She said she found the process to be needlessly complicated.
“I thought that [it] was really absurd, but I was willing to do it … because, again, there was a real need there,” Cartaya said.
To access an unemployment application through the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) website, visitors must first complete a biometric facial scan.
The state’s unemployment portal has been criticized in recent years for these added barriers. During the COVID-19 pandemic, there were allegations that Florida Sen. Rick Scott had designed the system to discourage Floridians from applying for jobless assistance.
“I ended up calling the DEO,” Cartaya said. “They told me that I would have to apply for regular unemployment, be denied that claim, and then I could apply for disaster unemployment.”
Cartaya was advised by the Florida DEO not to apply because she was already back to work, and she earns more than $275 a week, which is the maximum disaster unemployment payout in Florida.
It’s been almost two months since Hurricane Milton, and Cartaya said she’s still feeling the fallout from her lost wages.
“As a result of that, I had to ask family members for help … I’ve also had to make budgetary decisions, especially with food … And I actually did have to dip into my savings, and I’ve been working very hard at building a savings over this past year," Cartaya said.
She said it’s too soon to tell whether she will have long-term financial impacts from Hurricanes Debby, Helene and Milton.
“The reason for that … is because we don’t know what else is coming. ... Maybe a person can absorb one such emergency, right? But it doesn’t mean you can absorb two or three of those emergencies,” Cartaya said.
It’s a relief to be back to work, Cartaya said. She remembers the mood her first day back to work after Hurricane Milton.
“Everybody was visibly exhausted. We were all very tired. Very quiet."
Milton sliced diagonally across the state, triggering mass river flooding events in Pasco County and leveling hundreds of trees.
“Most people had experienced massive numbers of trees down in their neighborhoods, and Dade City is actually a member of the Tree City U.S.A. program, so it was really sad to see so many of the trees just destroyed after the storm,” she said.
Cartaya said she often thinks about how hotter and longer summers are threatening Florida’s citrus industry, which is already reeling from a dearth of fruit production and unsolved citrus greening crisis.
This year, she said the warmer conditions, stoked by climate change, are making her work more uncomfortable.
“Working in the screenhouses is very hot, difficult work … temperatures can rise to about 120 degrees during the summer," Cartaya said. "So we’re enduring those extended summer-like conditions … on top of contending with the storms and the damage.”
“Despite the fact that we are starting to see the impacts of climate change-driven storms, the increase in storms, the increase in strength in the storms — I still want to make my home here.”
This audio postcard is part of a series on people's experiences returning to work after a series of powerful storms in the 2024 hurricane season.
