Family reunites with lost memories three years after Hurricane Ian
By Samantha Romero
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CAPE CORAL, Florida (WBBH) — A Cape Coral family has been reunited with a box of precious memories lost during Hurricane Ian, three years after the storm swept it away.
“Yeah. All family and friends down here. This was my best friend. And this is my youngest son, Jody, on there,” said Ivana Cook, reflecting on the contents of the box.
Inside the box were pins, photos, and a cassette, holding decades of memories. Ivana Cook and her daughter Tammy Allen are featured in many of the photos, including Thanksgiving dinners and their 39th wedding anniversary.
“My husband and I dancing,” Ivana Cook recalled, describing a lifetime of memories once feared lost.
Tammy Allen expressed the emotional impact of the loss.
“It was just devastating to see that what they built and was supposed to be for us kids was just shattered in a minute,” she said.
Hurricane Ian’s floodwaters had swallowed their Cape Coral home near the Yacht Club, taking the box with it. For three years, there was no trace of it until last Friday.
Kate Lynch discovered the box while walking her dog on the other side of the city, near Savona Parkway and Agualinda Boulevard. She posted about it on Facebook, which led to Tammy Allen’s phone lighting up with notifications as people recognized her.
The box returned home on Sunday, exactly three years to the day since the storm washed it away. Remarkably, not a single water droplet was found inside.
“It brought tears. It brought memories,” Tammy Allen shared.
Ivana Cook added, “Some of the people (in the photos) were deceased, you know? So it’s just like, oh, my God, look at this. How young?”
Tammy received the box back on the same day her dog passed away, believing it was her dad in the pictures looking out for her.
“Anybody we tell it to, they can’t — they are like, ‘What? There’s — what’s the reason?’ We don’t know. It’s just a miracle,” Ivana Cook said.
The return of the box has brought a sense of closure and joy to the Cook family, reminding them of the resilience of memories and the kindness of strangers.
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