An aerial view of broken homes are seen after Hurricane Helene made landfall in Horseshoe Seashore, Florida, on September 28, 2024. Agence France-Presse
TREASURE ISLAND — Michael Ward — who has lived on Treasure Island, off Florida’s Gulf coast, for 33 years — determined to experience out Hurricane Helene regardless of an order to evacuate. It was a choice he rapidly regretted.
As an alternative of going along with his spouse to a pal’s house inland, the 67-year-old Ward stayed put. As torrential rains led to flooding, he feared he can be electrocuted in his one-story house, however the storm surge prevented him from even opening his door.
Finally, he climbed out of a window to flee. Waist-deep in murky water, he walked about half a mile to a neighbor’s two-story house, the place he spent the night time.
READ: Florida bracing for ‘unsurvivable’ Hurricane Helene
“I can’t consider that it occurred. I’ve lived in Florida for 44 years, and too many occasions, the information reviews about these storms transform unsuitable,” Ward advised AFP.
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“I assume we ran out of luck.”
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Treasure Island is one among a collection of barrier islands throughout from Saint Petersburg.
Late Thursday, Helene claimed one life on this metropolis of 6,500 residents, primarily house to retirees and rich professionals. Total, dozens have been killed within the storm in the US.
READ: 56 useless, tens of millions with no energy after Helene’s lethal march in US Southeast
The storm surge reached practically seven toes (2.1 meters). Sidewalks are lined in mud, and random objects unmoored by the flooding — couches, beds, fridges and doorways — are scattered in entrance of properties.
‘Devastating’
Arthur Czyszczon, 42, walks out and in of Web page Terrace, the beachfront lodge he operates along with his household.
Mattresses, nightstands and lamps are piled up outdoors. Like many others, Czyszczon evacuated the island forward of Helene, and is now taking inventory of the harm.
“It’s devastating to see your neighborhood undergo this. The saltwater does simply huge harm,” Czyszczon mentioned, questioning aloud how his neighbors may get well from the storm.
A lot of the one-story properties within the space are uninhabitable, and plenty of residents wouldn’t have flood insurance coverage as a result of it’s too expensive.
“It’s going to take a while to get the eating places again, to get properties and inns repaired. It should take the neighborhood to return collectively and work collectively higher than earlier than the storm,” the hotelier mentioned.
For Czyszczon and the opposite residents of Treasure Island, the lengthy highway to restoration has begun, with myriad worries and doubts. Ward mentioned these points saved him awake on the night time the storm hit.
“I used to be simply fascinated about all of the work coming that I must do,” he mentioned.
‘Nightmare’
Subsequent to the bridge that results in Saint Petersburg, Ross Sanchez says he doesn’t need to ponder the longer term. Like dozens of others seen in Treasure Island, he’s carrying plastic luggage full of things and garments he recovered from his house.
Native officers have barred autos from coming onto the island to allow them to end their clean-up work. Which means Sanchez and different residents should stroll about 1.25 miles (two kilometers) in excessive warmth to get to the mainland.
“I’ve lived right here for near 40 years and by no means seen one thing like this,” says Sanchez.
“I simply really feel too many feelings. Simply utter shock. My four-year-old’s toys are gone, his crib — every part is gone.”
Close by, 74-year-old Gary Potenziano struggles to push a cart loaded with every part he was in a position to salvage from his home.
“It is a nightmare,” mentioned his 68-year-old spouse, Patty.
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“Hopefully we’re going to return again tomorrow morning to our place to work, as a result of we’ve acquired a lot to do. Every little thing in our home is totaled.”
