Hurricane Helene & Tampa

A few days ago Hurricane Helene struck Florida as a CAT4 storm bringing some large storm surge and destroying homes all around. This storm geographically though didn't really go near Tampa and instead went up to the panhandle portion of Florida for a direct hit around Cedar Key.

However, the rain it brought into Tampa was way more than we previously had with the heavy rain in the beginning of September - this was enough water to destroy homes. I sadly knew when I awoke on September 27 that things were going to be bad based on one image.

For context - lets jump back to August of 2023 during Hurricane Idalia when I tweeted this image out.

I found the tide and currents data for the marker nearest to my parent's place was the best indicator of the water level of the bay. At this point in 2023 the water level had breached the seawall and was inching its way up the grass to the house. So figured if that happened at simply "minor" flooding it would only take ~1.5ft more to have water touching the house.

So when I awoke on September 27 and checked the same marker it looked far worse as it breached into the "major flooding" category.

At this point I knew the parent's house was going to be in some trouble as that would mean an increase of roughly 2.5ft of water level compared to the last "close call". However, I was behind time because they knew at ~1am when their camera caught the sad truth.

A simple set of photos which includes a photo from two days prior to the storm and a photo at 1:15am on hurricane day. It's clear once you realize the depth of water against the pillars that this is 1-2ft of water against the house. Too bad the hurricane struck at night when it was tougher to see what was going on. What I knew though looking at this photo is that the marker chart showed the highest level at 1:23am which then would begin receding so this photo was pretty much as bad as it got.

So at this point there was nothing left to do but wait for roads to be passable and head on down there to investigate. What was misleading from Google Maps is the roads said open, but nearly all lights were out on the specific road down. There is nothing more infuriating than pulling up to a multi-lane intersection with no working stoplights. Some cars just assume it means blast through the intersection to the risk of anyone. Others sit calmly with never enough confidence to move and most just push into the intersection honking non-stop.

Though once I made it onto the final street towards the house - I knew it was going to be bad. The dash-cam video doesn't give it justice because you don't know the prior, but seeing the debris in places it shouldn't be gave me a rough idea of the water line.

The first photo I took when I arrived was not much until you look deeper.

At first glance it may look like just a rough storm, but then you started noticing the debris line and its uniformed line all around the house. The mind then starts drawing the visual that water was up and against the home in a full circle.

I walk around recording some videos and realize the once full set of 5G bars I had has been reduced to 1. The house has no power so my ability to send videos and images back to others is extremely limited, so I just explore and prepare to go inside. Before I get a chance though I see some folks walking the street and a conversation sparks.

They are apparently a few homes down and mentioned 3-4ft of water and how the water came from the street before it came from the bay. These folks were more interested in discussing the house of someone who was out of town - as the expensive cars in the garage were floating at the high point. Not my neighborhood or people so the conversation ended and I went back to exploring.

One thing I was trying to figure out as I walked around the house is whether anything was broken for entry for the water. However, that's a childish thought because water can get in through anything. So while I spotted zero damage on the outside it was clear as day through the windows that water was inside.

Not my place to go further into this blog with a place that is not mine, so I'll end this blog with one other photo I took and a few comments.

As I walked through the parent's house documenting photos & videos for insurance - the smell in some areas was absolutely disgusting. It had to be a mix of sewage and bay water that saturated the ground. It also feels extremely weird when your shoe steps cause squishy noises when walking around inside on hardwood.

It seems the effort that was taken prior to the storm of just putting stuff on top of other stuff saved some major things (chairs, belongings, computers, etc). As I walked room to room examining the water/debris line - it seemed extremely lucky that the water line was never above the outlet. Our restarting of the power was done carefully and went roughly like:

• Unplug everything.
• Turn all breakers off.
• Turn main breaker on.
• Walk around & wait.
• Turn on AC breaker(s).
• Wait around & wait.
• Turn on X breaker & walk around and wait.

You get the idea - we quickly learned there was an outlet on the ground that was submerged in water - it sparked and smoked when given power instead of throwing the breaker. Clearly the guides say wait for a professional when messing with electricity, but for a sub 12 hour turnaround to getting AC back on and that 94% humidity cleared out will work wonders for the repairs. I'm guessing in the long run whether appliances power up or not - they'll probably have a shortened life due to submersion of disgusting water.

This isn't my house/story to share. The damage is done - the recovery begins.