Ivan Dibble says Hurricane Irma took everything he had, including his home and his mother.
Dibble lived with his mother Marci Rodriguez in a Marathon mobile home. When the Florida Keys received official evacuation orders with Hurricane Irma looming, Dibble tried to bring her with him.
"I started loading my car and when I was done I said mom, last chance. Are you coming with me or not? And she said no, and I kissed her, the cat and the dog, I said bye to the birds and that was the last time I saw my mother," he said.
Dibble says he spoke with his mom on the phone Sunday morning; she told him water was already creeping up her front steps.
"I spoke to her and I told her I loved her and that's it, we lost communication and I didn't know anything from her until the sheriff's office case yesterday and told me that she had passed," he said.
Dibble is leaning on friends for support to combat his heartbreak and feelings of guilt.
Dibble says he's desperate to see his mother's remains and find the animals she stayed behind to care for, but authorities aren't allowing anyone passed mile marker 74.
"I know that her last wish would be for me to take care of those animals," he said.
Dibble says there's a hard lesson to learn here - if an evacuation is ordered, don't stay.
"Don't do it, it's not worth it," he said. "You're going to put your family through a lot of pain. You're taking your life, it might be cut short, if you can't take your animals, your life is the most important thing."
