Swamped a year ago, Pinellas coastal residents brace for Helene

ST. PETERSBURG — It looked like moving day in Shore Acres.

Portable storage units, trailers and moving trucks seemed to be in every other driveway Wednesday morning as high tide began seeping in. Hurricane Helene still loomed hundreds of miles offshore.

Residents whose homes have flooded as often as three times in the past four years were packing their homes ahead of predicted historic storm surge of 5 to 8 feet. This time, they were unwilling to come home to the headache of insurance payouts and mold remediation for damaged property.

“I don’t feel like dealing with that anymore,” said Jon Grubb, 45, who got so fed up with the damage wreaked by Hurricane Idalia that he put his home on the market. It took six months to fix walls, wiring, custom cabinets and doors; the home is currently for sale.

His wife got the idea to rent a 20-foot U-Haul this time. The house could get soaked, but their stuff would be dry. Other Shore Acres neighbors also circulated the moving truck idea along with a tip to use a removable caulk that seals and weatherproofs doors and opening.

Grubb’s neighborhood is ground zero for the city’s water intrusion — in Idalia’s 4-foot storm surge, 82% of all flooded homes in St. Petersburg were in Shore Acres. The family-friendly neighborhood is built out like a bowl, and more affordable homes in the middle get the worst.

“If [Helene] is coming in at that same level or higher, there’s going to be a lot of people that are flooded out again,” said Shore Acres Neighborhood Association president Kevin Batdorf.

Residents in Shore Acres and other low-lying neighborhoods along the coastline got the order Wednesday morning to evacuate. The weather threats don’t stop at Shore Acres, those in other neighborhoods reminded.

“We get flooding down here just as bad,” said Cathy Levesque, 66. Her front door faces Bonita Bayou and Coquina Key.

“Everyone’s on edge right now,” said Batdorf, who believes the official count of 1,206 flooded Shore Acres homes in Idalia is short by 200. He thinks the neighborhood should have been given special consideration by Pinellas County, which makes the call on evacuations.

“They should’ve ordered the evacuation yesterday. It’s irresponsible,” Batdorf said. “Is there a zone worse than A? ... They know we’re going to flood. It’s not a secret.”

Batdorf’s home is built up 10 feet off the ground, a modification he urges his neighbors to make, though he fully expects his ground-level garage to flood. He’s staying put, as he has a direct line to city officials and the police department and gets answers to questions from neighbors on the Facebook page he moderates.

“I want to see this neighborhood do well,” he said. “We know what’s coming.”

Moving day

Jennifer Connell-Wandstrat of Shore Acres was on her third of six trips to a storage unit at Sam’s Club. The widowed mother of four kids and five cats has endured flooding twice in four years. Her daughter lost her bedroom both times. Connell-Wandstrat lost her wedding video, too.

“I’m trying to keep it together for the kids. I’ve been in survivor mode for the past two days,” said Connell-Wandstrat, 51. “At least this time we know what we saved. I even got a second floor unit.”

Residents counted more than a dozen moving trucks lining the streets over three blocks. One man said he drove to Tampa just to secure a truck.

“I just don’t want to wait for insurance to take six months to reimburse me for my stuff,” said Shawna Bloesinger, 27, who moved into her home in December. To her, the decision was simple: $400 for cinder blocks to get her belongings off the ground or $100 to rent a U-Haul for three days where her couch and wooden desks would be safe.

“Everybody’s just kind of learned their lesson.”

Battening down

Businesses along Madeira Beach tied down boats. Neighbors shared supplies, unloaded sandbags and headed for higher ground.

At Snug Harbor boat works in Madeira Beach, fishermen were on the decks of dozens of boats, checking ropes, adding lines, making sure the pumps worked.

Five boats had come in early from trips to get into dock ahead of the storm. Others were moving old boats and ones they thought might sink onto dry docks.

”We always worry about the boats,” said Becky Vossert, 42, who works on a boat called About Time. “We do what we can. But there’s only so much we can do.”

Most of the boats in this marina sell their catches to Fishbusterz seafood, whose shop is on-site.

”We all look out for each other here,” said Joshua Murphy, 37, who was securing his boat, Swordfish. “There will be people out here with the boats all night, people who don’t have families or their own homes to take care of and volunteer to make sure the pumps are all running, and no one is slamming into each other.”

Murphy, who lives in Hudson, was worried about his home. He planned to be back there by dark to be with his wife, 11-year-old, son, dog and cat.

Inside the retail shop, Ashlee Hayes, 31, was manning the counter and worrying about the guys planning to ride out the storm at the marina.

”They’re strapping down, lifting up, doing what they can do. But you never know what’s going to happen. Hurricane Debby sent a tornado that ripped off our roof and flooded this market,” she said. “We just got the floors redone.”

Hayes also worried about her own home near MacDill Air Force Base in South Tampa. Debby sent flooding she had never seen into the neighborhood.

“And that was only a tropical storm,” she said. “Who knows what this one is going to be?”

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