FLEEING FAMILY CAN'T GO HOME: IT'S GONE

Melissa Meyer can't go home again. Hurricane Andrew saw to that, virtually wiping out the community of Homestead, Fla., where she lived.

Meyer, her Air Force husband, Adrian, and their 2-month-old baby fled from their Florida home on Sunday, ahead of the onslaught of the hurricane.

They escaped literally with what they could carry in their car a few trash bags full of clothes, the baby's car seat, a stroller and family pictures. They had to leave their two dogs behind, but fortunately they survived.

The Meyers temporary home is now with relatives in the Cape Girardeau area. Meyer and her son arrived with their few belongings Tuesday, following a flight that originated in Valdosta, Ga., and ended in St. Louis.

Meyer said her husband is expected in Cape Girardeau today.

Meyer's mother, Elizabeth Thurmond, lives in Cape Girardeau. Adrian Meyer is a Jackson High School graduate, and his parents, Darlene and Adrian J. Meyer, live in the Jackson area.

Melissa Meyer said the family will be staying here until her husband is reassigned to another Air Force base. The Homestead Air Force Base was destroyed by Hurricane Andrew.

"We lived right off the base, about a mile from the base," the 25-year-old Meyer said Saturday as she recalled the harrowing events of the past week.

It began about 5 a.m. Sunday, when Adrian Meyer, a jet mechanic, was called to the base to help evacuate the Air Force jets. The jets were flown to a North Carolina base.

At 9 a.m., all military personnel were told to leave the area. Adrian Meyer called his wife and told her to begin packing the car.

"I started packing as many clothes in trash bags as I could put in the car," Melissa Meyer recalled.

They left about 1 p.m. Sunday with their few belongings, and $120 borrowed from friends.

Meyer said the day started out sunny. "There was a light breeze. It seemed like a typical Sunday," she said. But by the time they departed for an air force base at Valdosta, the winds had started picking up.

"We went up the (Florida) turnpike. It was bumper to bumper traffic," recalled Meyer. "People were driving on the median. It was a two-lane turnpike. They made four lanes out of it."

At service plazas along the turnpike, motorists waited for at least an hour for gasoline and 45 minutes for cold food. Meyer said the food was cold because the restaurants couldn't keep up with the demand.

Meyer said she and her family couldn't find a motel room. So they, along with about 150 others, spent Sunday night sleeping in their cars at an Orlando area rest stop.

At 8 a.m. Monday, just hours after Hurricane Andrew roared ashore in Florida, the Meyers showed up at Moody Air Force Base in Valdosta, along with about 300 other people.

"We had no place else to go," said Meyer.

From a friend who remained behind in Miami, they learned that their condominium unit had been heavily damaged.

"We knew that our house was still standing, but just barely," said Meyer.

From their friend, they also learned to their joy that their dogs a husky and a Labrador had survived.

"We had to leave our dogs behind. We locked them in the house because I didn't want to leave them outside to try to face the winds by themselves," she said.

The dogs survived despite the fact that the hurricane shutters around the condominium were blown into the house by the powerful storm.

On Friday, Adrian Meyer returned to Homestead to try to salvage what was left in their home.

But there was little to salvage. "He says because of the water and everything, the walls are crumbling," she said. "My husband said he barely got anything out of the house.

"We have two dogs, a baby, a few baby things, clothes, some pictures, that's it."

Meyer said her husband said the devastation was for worse than what was shown on television. She said it made her husband cry.

"I can't even imagine the devastation down there," she said. "The mall I used to work at is gone."

The condominium complex had been home to about 600 people. The hurricane damaged it so badly that it is scheduled to be razed, she said.

"Some people stayed and weathered out the storm," said Meyer. Others were not so lucky. They were found beneath the rubble of buildings, she said.

The Meyers had lived in Florida for almost two years. Meyer said she has no desire to return. "I would rather not go to Florida again."

Saturday, Meyer, her son and her mother stopped by a tractor trailer being used by the Salvation Army in Cape Girardeau as a collection point for emergency relief supplies.

Meyer said they had stopped to see what supplies they could contribute. Instead, they ended up on the receiving end. "They gave us some formula for the baby and diapers. They gave us some clothes, too," she said.

Despite the tragedy, Meyer remains optimistic about the future. "It can't get any worse," she said.