Northeast Ohio natives discuss firsthand experience with Hurricane Helene

CLEVELAND (WJW) – Several people from Northeast Ohio experienced the wrath of Hurricane Helene firsthand.

Alexis Giammaria, of Highland Heights, just started her freshman year at The University of Tampa.

“I was told to evacuate Wednesday. We had to get out by 1p.m. When I got outside, everyone had their suitcases and was trying to fly home,” said Giammaria.

Giammaria decided to stay with another family originally from Northeast Ohio.

Thursday night, Hurricane Helene roared ashore at Florida’s Big Bend between Tampa and Tallahassee, with 140 mile per hour winds. At least five people were reported dead.

Brandy Lemire and her family moved to Sarasota, Florida from Green almost five years ago.

“It’s kind of hard to gauge what to expect. This one, though, we felt was different so we got
prepared,” said Lemire.

Sarasota suffered some of the worst storm surge flooding in the wake of Helene.

“We didn’t have flooding at our house, but we went on a couple drives, there were trees down,
damage to roofs, a lot of areas around us were flooded. Anna Maria island was hit hard and they have a lot of damage,” said Lemire.

Brandy said they lost power Thursday afternoon and still don’t have power 24 hours later.

“It’s 91 degrees with no AC and no power. Last night was rough, we struggled to sleep last night,” said Lemire.

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