Record flooding along Alafia River left residents scambling to save possessions, pets

RIVERVIEW – Angela Berdequez and Tony Maiorana had planned to evacuate ahead of Hurricane Helene.

They were renting his sister’s house on the Alafia River and had heard the warnings about storm surge.

But Maiorana had to work late Thursday at his job in a grocery store and, by then, they thought the worst of the storm may have passed.

Five hours later, they waded through waist-high black water in pitch darkness to escape floodwaters on the verge of penetrating their home. Maiorana carried Zeus, their Chihuahua, to safety.

“Oh my god my stuff is going to be ruined,” Berdequez said on a call to her sister. “My car is ruined; the airbag went off. You can’t even push it out of the way.”

Hurricane Helene struck at night along the Alafia River, not with wind and rain but with storm surge that stranded cars and trucks and seeped into homes.

As forecast, the river saw record flooding with water reaching 9.4 feet high at 1 a.m. Friday, nearly two feet higher than during Hurricane Idalia and almost 3 feet above the previous record high.

Along stretches of the river, some residents abandoned homes and sought higher ground carrying pets and possessions at chest height. One woman drove into a flooded stretch of water to check on her father whose home was surrounded by water. They emerged carrying his guitars. Others had evacuated early and face an anxious wait to see how their homes fared.

Scott Long and Katherine Wiitanen sheltered on the dry covered porch of a neighbor’s house after their home took in two feet of water, covering their power outlets and leaving them afraid to remain indoors. Buck, a golden doodle dog, lay by Wiitanen’s side.

The threat of rising waters had left Wiitanen shaking and spooked the dog. Long, who has lived close to the river for 15 years said he’s never seen flooding as bad. He never thought they would need to leave ahead of the storm.

“It’s unbelievable,” said Wiitanen, a U.S. Army veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. “I didn’t expect this.”

For a while the couple tried to figure out where to go. Wiitanen called hotels on her cell phone while Long prepared a canoe for their escape.

A hotel on Falkenburg Road and State Road 60 told them they had two vacancies but by the time the couple arrived there, the rooms had been let. There were no rooms available in nearby La Quinta and a Motel Six.

The couple, who had no transport of their own, didn’t want to go to the nearest Hillsborough County shelter in Seffner. They saw no alternative but to return to the flooded home and “tough out” the night.

Forecasters expected the river to come back below flood stage later Friday morning.

A downed power line on U.S. 301 added to the dangers in Riverview.

The stretch of the highway was blocked off for at least six hours by Hillsborough County Sheriff’s deputies.

With no way through the cordoned off area, Dante Watkins’ GPS directed him to Park Drive.

He and a friend had gone to a gas station on a beer and supplies run. His Jeep Grand Cherokee made it through one stretch of water but stalled out on a second.

“I realized it was too deep,” he said. “But at that point it was too late. I couldn’t come back.”

Watkins and his friend climbed out of the car and sat on it until a passing driver in a pickup truck gave them a ride to dry land.

Watkins, who is a mechanic, said he’s hoping his insurance will cover the loss.

Staff writer Langston Taylor contributed to this report.

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