'It’s devastating': John Daly loses home in Hurricane Helene
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John Daly during the first round of the Ascension Charity Classic. (Jeff Curry/Getty Images)
Thousands of homes have been destroyed due to the impacts of Hurricane Helene. John Daly’s house was one of them.
Daly confirmed Wednesday that his home in Clearwater, Florida, was lost due to the Category 4 hurricane that swept through the region late last week. Daly said the hurricane was “devastating, the worst I’ve ever seen.”
“I’m just glad everyone is healthy, that’s the main thing,” Daly told PGATOUR.COM. “You live in Florida, you have to understand that’s going to happen, but not like this. I didn’t think it would be this bad.”
Daly visited the home sparingly, spending most of his time in Dardanelle, Arkansas, near where he grew up. Daly said three of four homes belonging to close family and friends in the area were also lost.
“I more think it’s the memories that mom, Chrissy and Matty over the years have in that house," said Daly, referring to a few of those closest to him who were impacted the most. "The memories is what you miss when you lose something like that.”
Hurricane Helene made landfall last Thursday in Florida’s Big Bend region as a Category 4 hurricane. NBC News reported that approximately four million people were without power because of the storm, with fears that outages could last weeks. The region is still in the early stages of response and recovery. As of Wednesday, at least 180 people have died across six states, per CNN, with hundreds still unaccounted for. The majority of the deaths were reported in North and South Carolina as the affected states faced flooding, falling trees, heavy rains and dangerous roads.
“I hope everyone gets safe and gets their homes back,” Daly said. “My heart just goes out to everybody.”
Daly is in the field for this week’s PGA TOUR Champions event, the Constellation FURYK & FRIENDS, at Timiquana Country Club in Jacksonville, Florida.