Storms and stress

Weather | Floridians work to recover from Jeanne as they hope that a devastating chain of hurricanes has finally been broken | Lynn Vincent

Geoffrey Donnan once promised his wife he'd buy her lakefront property someday. After Hurricane Jeanne turned the yard of their rural Fellsmere, Fla., home into a swamp complete with fish swimming in it, Mr. Donnan told her he'd fulfilled his pledge.

The Donnans were among millions of Floridians hit by the ferocious dual punch of both Jeanne and her predecessor, Hurricane Frances. On Sept. 25, they and seven grandchildren persevered through Jeanne's 120-mph eyewall huddled in a walk-in closet. When the family emerged, the forested land around their home resembled piles of giant pickup sticks: Huge fallen trees lay crisscrossed, penning in floodwater to form a mosquito-bitten swamp. Elsewhere on the property, goats waded in water up to their bellies.