A mum-of-three has miraculously found her wedding ring after losing it when Hurricane Ian battered the US state of Florida.
Ashley Garner, 32, from Fort Myers, removed her wedding ring three days before the hurricane hit to work out on a punch bag in the garage, which she hadn’t done for many years.
Unfortunately, the beloved piece of jewellery soon went missing.
As the category 4 storm bared down on their home town, a panicked Ashley, husband Blake and their three children, Wyatt, Luke, and Charlotte, searched high and low for the ring but to no avail.
“I took off all of my rings [and] completely forgot because that's not normal for me... I sleep with them, I don't take them off," Ashley said.
“I couldn't do anything other than look for it, and if I couldn't find it, that's all I can do.”
Once the storm hit, they hunkered down and were unable to continue the search. Her city of Fort Myers was hit directly by Ian after it swept off the Gult of Mexico.
Over 100 people were killed with the majority in Lee County, the area in which Fort Myers sits.
Ashley said her ring was the last thing on her mind when she saw the devastation in the neighbourhood.
She explained: “When you walked out of our front garage, it was literally tree branches everywhere.
"You couldn't walk. Trees were on cars, on top of roofs.”
However, just 10 minutes into the clean-up, Blake made a startling discovery.
He found the wedding ring in the pile of debris on their driveway and gave it to their eldest son to surprise Ashley.
The mum said: “I didn't believe it.
"He handed it to me, I screamed, and then I just sat.”
She shared her story on Facebook, leaving many fellow users in awe at what happened.
"Speechless. God will provide, always have, always will. If this isn’t a sign I don’t know what is," the post read.
"Some of you know I lost my wedding ring a couple days before the hurricane.
"We looked high & low for dayyssss. Ian was coming & I just accepted it was gone and I would never get it back after the 120mph winds.
"Look who provided for us. It was literally in a pile of brush when we opened the garage to start clean up. with so much devastation this gave us a little hope." [sic]
The discovery has offered hope to fellow Floridians online.
One user commented: "What a blessing!!!"
"Wow!! So glad you found it," added someone else.
"I love love love this!!!!!!!!!!" added someone else, while another user commented "answered prayers for sure".
Ashley added: “To everyone in Florida who was impacted by Ian, I pray for your healing.
"My heart hurts for the lives that were lost and the destruction Ian brought.
“As I sat on the curb holding my wedding ring with debris and tree branches surrounding me, I was reminded how big our God is.
“To have this one thing brought back to me, it gave me a sign to know that everything was going to be okay, and that we needed to keep pushing forward.
“We could all use a little hope, faith, and love during this horrible nightmare. My hope in sharing our story is to bring faith to y’all.”
“Have faith, spread love, and love fully. Southwest Florida will rebuild and return stronger!”
