East coast takes pounding from Jeanne

Sifting through the rubble of what was left of her mother’s home in what was left of Barefoot Bay on Florida’s battered east coast, what Cecilia Harman really wanted was her sister’s baby dolls.

Her family had lived in the home since her late father retired 30 years ago. Now the roof and walls lay on top of waterlogged debris spilling from the floors to the yard: her mother’s antique cabinets, the family china, the TV and computer, photo albums, clothes and the bed Harman, 42, just bought for her mother, Holly Harman, 75.

The scene was repeated up and down Florida’s east coast, where Hurricane Jeanne brought equitable devastation to mobile homes and expensive condominium towers.

Jeanne’s blow here appeared far worse than what Hurricane Frances wrought three weeks earlier, based on Sentinel helicopter surveys after each storm.

From Daytona Beach to Vero Beach, Hurricane Jeanne seriously damaged or destroyed thousands of homes, apartment buildings, hotels and other businesses along the sea or within a few miles inland.

Not all, but in many stretches, particularly in northern Indian River, southern Brevard and southern Volusia counties, the storm appeared to wreck up to one of every five beachfront buildings, ripping roofs, smashing walls and undermining foundations.

In Barefoot Bay, an inland waterway community in southern Brevard County, once-tidy streets were lined by more than 1,000 battered and flattened mobile homes, including Holly Harman’s.

Cecilia Harman and her fiancé, Nick Gornell, evacuated her mother and Cecilia’s mentally disabled sister, Amy Harman, 48, before the storm. They filled a van with a few belongings, but Cecilia Harman said she could not leave until she found Amy Harman’s 10 dolls.

As she peeled back layers of debris, Gornell spoke for her.

“It could be worse. We could be dead. You could have a leg cut off or be trapped in this stuff. I thank God we’re all alive,” he said. “We’ll just pick up the pieces. If it means working a little harder, that’s what you do. You gotta live.”

The beach erosion may prove the worse blow for many communities.

The erosion skipped along the coast. In some places, notably Cocoa Beach, the storm seemed to redeposit sand, burying boardwalks in high, new dunes.

Dunes along south Hutchinson Island have disappeared entirely in places. And when Jeanne didn’t wash sand out to sea, it sent it crashing in waves and blowing in the wind across the island. Minidunes as deep as 5 feet lay against homes. Roads were completely covered.

But in many stretches, such as Vero Beach, Indian River Shores, Indian Harbour Beach, Satellite Beach and New Smyrna Beach, the beaches stripped away from under houses and towers, as well as from under streets, pools, patios, sea walls and walkways.

In New Smyrna Beach, more than 30 buildings sustained severe damage when the storm surge punched holes in their sea walls. At least two dozen multifamily condominiums, a Holiday Inn hotel and several single-family homes were among those damaged. The rear of the Ponce de Leon Towers hangs over a hollow.

Volusia County officials estimate the beach has lost 7 to 9 feet of sand throughout the county, though some beach areas of New Smyrna lost more than that. Several paved beach ramps also fell apart during the storm.

A landmark bar and restaurant, Toni and Joe’s Cocktail Lounge, was condemned, having sustained some of the worst damage in the city from the storm surge.

Co-owner Joe Granieri, whose parents built the popular bar at its Buenos Aires Street location in 1961, watched helplessly as the sea wall, then the 75-foot-long concrete patio, gradually disintegrated.

“Every time a wave came, it took away a little bit, then a little bit more,” Granieri said, as he surveyed the massive pit of broken concrete, glass and wood. “Now it looks like a bomb crater.”

At the Sandcastle Condominiums in Satellite Beach, waves stole the sand that had been supporting the 2-foot-thick concrete sea wall. When that happened, the whole structure collapsed, exposing bent steel rods and giant 10-foot sections of concrete.

Just south of Melbourne Beach, Richard Hart surveyed the damage. He said he comes to Brevard’s beaches once a week. The storm stole 5 feet of sand, he estimated.

“This one really tore up the beach,” Hart said. “I’ve never seen this kind of destruction on this beach. Jeanne did the most damage I’ve ever seen.”

Sand erosion not only sparked damage beachside. Battering waves ate away the soft banks of the Indian River in southern Brevard County. Near the little riverside town of Micco, erosion bit lane-sized chunks from U.S. Highway 1, toppling asphalt into the river.

It also collapsed several blocks of Ocean Drive in Vero Beach.

“It could have been worse,” said Mike McGarry, beach project coordinator for Brevard County. “But that doesn’t discount how bad it was.”

Jason Garcia, Ludmilla Lelis, Sean Mussenden and Laurin Sellers of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report. Scott Powers can be reached at spowers@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5441.