Wedding Ring Discovered in Hurricane Michael’s Debris To Be Reunited With Owner

Hurricane Michael, a strong Category 4, left behind miles of destruction and debris along the Florida Panhandle coast. Within that debris, a small glimmer of hope was discovered; a wedding ring! Meteorologist & Stormhunter for the Weather Network, Jaclyn Whittal, was covering the trail of damage left behind by Hurricane Michael when she came across a pile of costume jewelry. In the middle of the costume jewelry was a small red velvet box. She opened the box to discover it was not empty, in fact, it had a wedding ring inside. Jaclyn held onto the ring until her cameraman could take the discovery to local authorities, followed by immediately posting a picture of the rings on Twitter (see image 1) in hopes of locating the owner.

Image 1: Twitter post to help locate owner

Shortly after posting the picture of the ring, the post went viral with more than 1,200 retweets on Twitter. This is when Firsthand Weather discovered the post on Twitter. Firsthand Weather retweeted the post and shared the post on Facebook (see image 2) to its 116,000 followers. The post quickly caught the attention of thousands.

Image 2: Facebook post to help locate the owner

Then, the unthinkable happened. The owner’s neighbor–Linda Hilaman, a follower of Firsthand Weather, saw the post and notified the owner that her ring had been located. Linda said (see image 3): “They belong to Terri Hays who lived on 41st street. She will contact sheriffs department to claim. Thank you!!…..This is my neighbor’s rings, she is sobbing with joy.”

Image 3: Owner’s neighbor recognizes ring

The owner of the ring is in the process of obtaining her ring from local authorities. Firsthand Weather reached out to Linda Hilaman (the neighbor) and Terri Hays (the owner of the ring) for comment but have yet to hear back from either party.

Please credit Jaclyn and Firsthand Weather for broadcast