‘Help’ sign made of logs saves ’cane vics
Amber Gee was checking in on her loved ones’ properties via an interactive satellite map when she noticed a troubling message sprawled across her grandmother’s front lawn: H-E-L-P.
Gee, 24, had already evacuated from her own home in Callaway, Fla., due to Hurricane Michael, but was using the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s map to scope out any potential damage at the home in Youngstown.
Her grandmother had evacuated, too, but her uncle, Ernest Gee, his wife and a friend of the couple’s were still there and, based on the message — which Ernest had created using trees knocked down by the storm — were desperate for aid.
Gee told ABC News that as soon as she spotted the cry for help, she shared the image with emergency service officials, and asked them to perform a welfare check on her family.
Ernest, his wife and their friend were rescued about 2 a.m. Sunday.
“Apparently, they had to cut through a lot of downed trees to get there,” Gee said. “The hurricane has turned everything upside down. Some were more fortunate than others. I’m just happy that everybody is safe and sound and, hopefully, soon we will all get through this together and recover from the storm.”
Bay County Emergency Services praised Ernest’s outside-the-box thinking, and confirmed that “all was well” regarding everyone trapped in the house.
“This is an incredible story of how people are working together in this situation,” read a Facebook post on the Bay County Emergency Services page. “Someone from another county was using the mapping app to check property in rural Bay County and noticed the word ‘help’ spelled out in the grass in logs..”
Hurricane Michael touched down Wednesday in the Florida Panhandle and has killed at least 18 people in four states.
Forty-six people are still missing from the Mexico Beach, Fla., area.