The Road Across the Florida Keys: Floods, Power Outages, and Food Bankruptcy after Hurricane Milton (There is no home:’ Floridians find helping hands after floods)
VALRICO, Florida — As the car pulled up, the few volunteers of Creekside Church of Christ moved quickly in the burning Florida sun, pulling water, hamburger meat and cookies out of the trunk and into the shade of three tents.
Three days before, Hurricane Milton hit the town of Valrico, Lithia and other communities on the west coast of Florida, bringing with it damaging winds and widespread power outages.
After the immediate threat of Milton subsided, another emerged: Major flooding from a nearby waterway turned neighborhoods into rivers, forcing dozens to evacuate their homes. Water reached up to their chest for some people and they had to be evacuated by kayak.
Members of Creekside gathered Saturday to give food and drinks to their neighbors who have been affected by the flooding.
“It came in so fast and so hard that there was nothing that any of us could do. We already knew it was coming, so we got the basics that we could out. She said that it was too fast.
Source: ‘There is no home:’ Floridians find helping hands after floods
Thomas’ Neighborhood is Flooded by the Alafia River. The Waterway crested at 24.34 feet Friday, and it’s expected to continue to flood through early next week
A number of streets in Thomas’ neighborhood are flooded by the Alafia River. The waterway crested at 24.34 feet on Friday — reaching a major flood stage, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Other residents told NPR that the area has never flooded like this before. Hillsborough County emergency crews rescued more than 500 residents and 100 pets in the flooding aftermath.
Emergency crews and residents continued to use kayaks and boats to get to the flood zones even though some water had left by Saturday. The Alafia River is expected to continue to flood in the minor to moderate flood stage through early next week.
“There’s no home,” she said, tearing up. “The guy that lives behind me lives in a house that’s between nine and 12 feet high, and he had two feet of water in his house. Mine’s lower than that. Mine only sits three feet above ground.”
She found that other people in the community had shown up as well. One business loaned her a grill to use and another gave her space to park her car on higher ground when Milton first hit.
The Helene Longboat Key–Florida-Barrier-Island Hurricane: A Memories for a Family of Two Families
She believed it was a 1-in-100-year storm and stressed it was a stressful and emotionally exhausting experience. I think I have another 100 years. I’ll be dead by then,” she said laughing.
Austin is planning for the future too. After her experience, she hopes to better prepare herself by having emergency equipment and building a home that is resistant to future storms.
There are memories here. And there’s memories for future generations that we want to build here. It has meaning, so it does. It is indeed a structure but also not. My husband and I are preparing that if it becomes ours someday, we may have to rebuild,” she said.
Because of that, Rendel and her husband are already saving up and making plans to one day own the home. Hurricane-proofing a home, for example with strengthened windows or reinforced concrete, can cost tens of thousands of dollars.
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As long as you want to stay here financially, I think there is a point in time where you have to say no. Where I just can’t afford it,” he said.
Seabaugh said he and his wife are realistic about what that may take. They’ll be waiting another three months before moving back into their house after fixing up the damage. They’ve submitted insurance claims to make repairs, but do wonder what might happen if their home is completely wiped out in a future storm.
He gestured towards his daughter, who was also present, and said that they were fortunate to eventually have grandchildren. I want my kids to be able to enjoy it. I hope that it’s still here.
When he and his wife first bought the property, the family of the original builder of the home came to see them. Seabaugh was emotional to see how much of a family the place had, and to know how many memories they had there.
I was so overwhelmed when I first came back in, I got emotional. I realized after I cleaned that I didn’t want to look at this. She said that this is a paradise. “This made it through two hurricanes. The foundation is still standing. I most definitely will stay and rebuild. And most of the owners feel the same way.”
Her home was damaged by the wind from Milton, but she was surprised by the destruction she experienced from her very first storm, Helene.
Just like the Seabaughs, Austin had finished removing ruined flooring and furniture to avoid mold when Milton was forecast to hit. She fled to a nearby hotel during the storm.
For nearly two days, because the entrances to their community remained closed after the storm, they wondered: Was their beloved home of eight years still standing or washed away to the sea?
The state’s barrier islands, of which Longboat Key is a part, normally avoid the worst of hurricanes. Not this time, according to forecasts leading up to the storm. The storm surge of between 10 and 15 feet was expected in Florida.
The islands were placed under a mandatory evacuation order and residents like the Seabaughs, who sheltered with their daughter in Venice during the storm, feared the worst would happen.
“We got very lucky here,” Seabaugh said. We came back to two beautiful cottages, because we didn’t get the surge that they were anticipating.
NPR asked residents living on Longboat Key, where beachfront homes and condos could cost millions of dollars, whether living here for the foreseeable future is worth it?
Residents that spoke to NPR about what they love about the community cited the kind and tight-knit town and called Longboat Key “paradise” and well worth the gamble of future storms.