Family faces difficult recovery after ‘everything was destroyed’

WELLINGTON, FL. – After EF3 tornado tore through Wellington Earlier this month, WPTV brought you the Buera family searching their car for passports and birth certificates.

Now we learn that they not only lost their car, but also their house.

WPTV Wellington reporter Michael Hoffman found out how the community is helping right now.

Broken windows and a damaged roof serve as reminders to Booher’s family of how close they came to death after the horrific tornado impacted their lives.

“You realize… you don’t really have much left because… everything was destroyed, your whole life,” said 17-year-old Carolina Buera. “I just don’t feel real… honestly, it feels like a fantasy, a dream, even a nightmare, a horror.”

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She took us through what was once her family’s home, located next to the former stables.

“This is where horses have always been kept,” Buera said. “For example, you can actually see the structure of where it was located.”

Caroline and her family were in their home when EF3 tornado swept across Palm Beach County. When the roof collapsed, Caroline’s mother, Mariela, rushed to her family to protect them. The tornado destroyed their home and car, which is the source of income for her mother, who worked as a food delivery driver.

“He… nose-dived into the canal,” Caroline said. “Everything got wet or spoiled, so we couldn’t find my passport. We couldn’t find… important documents that I really need, like… maybe my brother’s birth certificate.”

All the damage now falls on a family of three and their pets living in a one-room apartment.

“There’s not much space,” Caroline said. “But at least we have a roof over our heads, which we are very grateful for.”

However, the family is still looking for the car.

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“If you have a car that you can donate, or a car that is cheap and economical, also with (the idea of) an apartment,” Mariela said through a translator.

Nonprofits faced with dwindling supplies, many of them in need of relief after the hurricanes, are stepping in to provide assistance.

“We want to make sure that when someone loses everything but their life,” said Eat Better Live Better CEO and founder Debra Tendrich, “we are there to support them and help them recover.”

Tendrich shared what she and her organization are doing to help the family.

“One thing we’re doing is working with Wheels From the Heart to help this family get a new car so they can get to work,” Tendrich said, “so they can get to school, reboot and regain their normal life. “

As Caroline and her family comb through what’s left of their home, it still doesn’t seem real.

“Being in that, hearing everything that’s going on and not knowing if you’re going to survive or not, especially with your family, it’s a nightmare,” Caroline said. “It doesn’t seem real in your mind.”

Click here if you would like to help the family with a car donation.

Click here to donate to the family’s GoFundMe.