The nearly nine-month search for a missing Boca Raton, Florida woman came to a close this weekend, thanks to Hurricane Irma preparations.Workers were draining the Boca Rio Canal on Saturday, ahead of the big storm, when they discovered a car that was hidden beneath the surface of the water.

Inside the car was the body of 47-year-old Lori Feliciano-Pino, who had been missing since December.

Lori’s family learned about the discovery on Facebook, after gathering together to wait out the storm.

Lori’s sister Rosannie Feliciano says she was cooking food when the power went out, and another sister saw a photo of the car on Facebook.

People had started commenting on the photo that it looked like the 2011 gray Toyota RAV4.

Rosannie called the detective assigned to her sister’s case, but didn’t get an answer so she left a voicemail.

She says she wanted to drive out to see the car, but it was 3pm and there was a curfew for the impending hurricane.

A few hours later, she says the detective called her back and confirmed that it was her sister.

He said that her belongings had been found in the car, along with the body of a woman with black hair, just like Lori’s.

‘I was initially completely shocked, then was very angry,’ she told the Palm Beach Post.

‘I can’t tell you how many times I said (to detectives) can we please check this canal because it was close to where she lived.’

The family still don’t know how Lori died, but having her body is bringing them a sense of closure.

‘I feel like years would have went by if it weren’t for something horrible like the hurricane to happen because we would never have found her,’ Rosannie said.

‘Out of something tragic, something good.

Now we can start to heal and grieve.’

Lori was last seen leaving her house the night of December 19, after having an argument with her husband.

Police say her husband was never a suspect in her disappearance.

Police had nothing to go on because Lori’s phone had died and there were no bank transactions to follow.

She disappeared just a week before she was due to travel north to spend Christmas with her family.

She was a mother of two and a grandmother of two.

Pictured below is Lori’s car in the bottom of the Boca Rio Canal.

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