HORSESHOE BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Brooke Hiers just a month ago left the state-issued emergency trailer where her family had lived after Hurricane Idalia slammed into her home on Florida’s Gulf Coast in August of 2023. Then Hurricane Helene crashed ashore. For the third time in 13 months, a 50-mile sliver of the state’s vast coastline took a direct hit from a hurricane. Hurricane Debby also had struck in August 2024. The hits in the windswept stretch of Florida’s Big Bend are forcing residents to reckon with the costs of living in an area under siege by storms that researchers say are becoming stronger because of climate change.… Continue Reading