Residents of Pinellas Hope tent city evacuate before Helene

CLEARWATER — They waited in a long line spilling out of the tent city, snaking down the sidewalk, shouldering everything they owned. Backpacks and grocery sacks, garbage bags bulging with T-shirts, sweatpants, family photos, Bibles and blankets. They’d heard they’d have to sleep on the floor.

Just before 2 p.m. Wednesday, four city buses idled on the curb, waiting to take 400 people without homes from Pinellas Hope to emergency shelters, as Hurricane Helene swirled toward Florida.

Unlike some Tampa Bay residents who resist – or resent – having to evacuate, they were grateful to have somewhere to go and a way to get there.

“I just got here. And now we have to go,” said Yaquelin Orella, 27, who was carrying three plastic bags filled with soup and popcorn. “I’m glad we have this opportunity, though, to feel safe.”

Most of the people had been living in tents, some for more than a year. Others had tiny cottages in the back. All had to leave.

The sprawling tent city sits on low land, an A evacuation zone. “We flood easy here,” said Joe Pondolfino, who directs Pinellas Hope for Catholic Charities. “We’ve been through this before.”

Christina Moody stood near the front of the line clutching her emotional support Miniature Pinscher-Chihuahua, Zoie. She and her partner Dakota Milan, 31, had recently arrived from Safe Harbor shelter and didn’t learn they would have to leave their new tent until a few hours earlier. “I’m very worried,” Moody said, nuzzling her dog. “I don’t know what to expect, or what will happen.”

Some had heard they would have air-conditioning at the shelter at Largo High. Wi-fi, maybe. Food.

“I was there last year, last hurricane, and they had everything. Except cots or somewhere to sleep,” said Gayle Kuhn, 64, who was wearing a straw hat and wristband that said: Never Give Up. After taking care of her mother for years, she said, she had to sell her house to afford a nursing home. She lived on the streets of St. Petersburg for three months, then sought refuge at Pinellas Hope. “I’m used to storms,” said Kuhn, who had been there 18 months. “But I feel more comfortable in a shelter than here.” Because she relied on the walker now, she would have to go to a special needs shelter at Dunedin Middle School. She waited for another bus.

“Last call for Largo!” Pondolfino shouted at 2:15. He told staff to do one more sweep, make sure everyone was out and knew this was mandatory. “One bus is going to Disney World,” he joked. “The next one is to the Pinellas County jail!”

Then he headed back into the storage area to get hundreds of mats he had ordered. That afternoon, he would drive them to Largo High to make sure no one had to sleep on the floor. “They’re our clients,” he said. “We have to take care of them.”

A half-hour later, five elderly people leaning on walkers and canes mopped their brows in the midday sun.

Dan Clemons, 73, sat on a plastic chair, smiling beside an orange backpack. He had moved to Florida to take care of his mom, and spent all their money on her care. “I was living in my car for months, then it broke down in Largo. Yesterday, a friend brought me here. It was wonderful, great!” he said. “We even had a TV, so we were all watching the hurricane.”

He wasn’t worried, he said. He was excited to have a ride and settle in somewhere.