This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Lorraine English, a 72-year-old Floridian who moved to North Carolina in 2025. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
I lived in San Francisco for many years, but in 2000, I moved to Bradenton, Florida, a town between Sarasota and St. Petersburg. I lived there for more than 20 years, right along the Manatee River, which runs into the Gulf of Mexico.
Bradenton is a medium-sized town, but like a lot of places in Florida, it’s been growing by leaps and bounds. It has a similar feel to Sarasota, and it’s close to beautiful white-sand beaches. It’s also very much a boating community. Overall, it’s a nice town and a good place to raise a family.
But there are downsides to living in Bradenton. Being so close to the Manatee River means seeing the effects of rising sea levels up close. The city’s roads are prone to sunny-day flooding, which happens when rising sea levels and high tides push water up through storm drains, even on clear, sunny days.
Courtesy of Lorraine English
When I first moved to Bradenton, the road near my home would flood only a couple of times a year. But over time, it happened more often. Starting about five or six years ago, it flooded nearly every day during the summer, and the water began creeping into people’s yards.
Over time, I also started noticing fiddler crabs in people’s yards. They’re tiny — about an inch long — and they burrow in the sand, leaving little holes behind. I remember thinking, “Oh my God, the ocean is starting to take this back.”
I didn’t want to endure another hurricane
Bradenton has become very unaffordable — and that’s happening all over Florida because of rising property taxes and homeowners’ insurance costs.
Two years ago, my homeowners’ insurance with hurricane coverage — not including flood insurance, which is a separate policy — went up to $7,000 a year. On top of that, my property taxes were about $3,000 a year. Altogether, I was looking at around $10,000 a year just for insurance and taxes.
Even though I’m financially stable and technically could have afforded it, I didn’t want to keep paying those costs.
Courtesy of Lorraine English
I started seriously thinking about leaving Bradenton — and Florida altogether — in August 2024, when Hurricane Debby hit. I was completely dumbfounded. My home wasn’t directly impacted, but I saw so many communities completely flooded.
That’s when I truly realized hurricanes in Florida, and the impacts of climate change, are only going to keep getting worse — and they did.
In September, Hurricane Helene brought a 7-foot storm surge into my neighborhood. Thankfully, my house didn’t flood, but in some cases, homes closer to the river saw as much as 7 feet of water. Afterward, a lot of my neighbors sold their homes as teardowns. Others decided to completely rehab their houses and stay, or eventually sold them.
The last storm I went through in Florida was Hurricane Milton. The worst damage to my home was to my pool cage. Milton took down one side of it, basically knocked it right down. I spent about $6,500 fixing it, and honestly, I consider myself very lucky.
Asheville, North Carolina was exactly what I was looking for
In 2023, I started looking at other parts of the United States where I might want to live — places with lower homeowners’ insurance and property tax costs. Asheville, North Carolina, was one of those places.
Before moving, I put my home in Florida on the market. It was built in 1951 and was a ranch-style house with three bedrooms, three bathrooms, and a garage. The property was really large, with a pool and three 150-year-old oak trees.
When I listed it, I got a contract pretty quickly and even had offers above my asking price. One offer was $25,000 over the list price, but I ended up taking the list price because it was a cash offer. At that point, I just wanted out of Florida.
Walter Bibikow/Getty Images
In 2025, I moved to Asheville, and I absolutely love it here. It’s neither too big nor too small, which I really like. It’s also beautiful and surrounded by forests and mountains. I live about half a mile from the Blue Ridge Parkway, so there are tons of trails nearby. There are so many songbirds and so much wildlife.
I live in a small community tucked into a wooded area. I bought a three-level condo here, which works out really well because my son lives with me and works from home.
I told him, “I’m getting older, and one day you’re going to be my caregiver, so you might as well live with me.” The setup is great because he has his own space on the bottom floor, and I have mine upstairs.
I miss Florida, but I’m not moving back
Asheville does get its share of natural disasters, too, but for me, the climate and the change of seasons make it worth it. The summers aren’t boiling hot, and the weather actually feels livable — especially after dealing with Florida’s relentless heat and humidity.
I do miss Florida from time to time, especially my little home and neighborhood.
I had some really great friends in Bradenton, and it was such a nice place to be in the evenings. I could walk west along Riverview Boulevard and see the sunset, or sit under the oak trees in my backyard.
But when I think about all the storms and the destruction I saw, I couldn’t be happier to have left Florida in the rearview mirror.
