South Tampa residents begin storm cleanup

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A three-mile stretch of Bayshore Boulevard in South Tampa is back open from Platt Street to Euclid Avenue.

Chris Collins, who lives along the busy street, said this type of flooding was the first for him along with his longtime neighbor.

“He said he has never seen this professionally or personally in his whole life,” Collins said.

Bayshore was turned into a river Thursday night. That storm surge also impacted Davis Islands nearby. Tampa General Hospital was protected with its recently installed “AquaFence.” It was a different experience for people nearby, like for Abigail St. Clair.

“We really lost track of being able to see what was going on indoors when the power was out,” St. Clair said.

She owns a business and she watched her surveillance cameras as water rushed in and damaged some parts of her shop.

Five miles away, Beach Park Homeowner Nikolas Alfonso did the same with his security cameras, and the water line on his fence shows it was a couple feet high.

“Walking in with my wife this morning, it was a little shocking trying to fathom how much water actually got into the house,” Alfonso said.

Jennifer Young lives in the same area as Alfonso and said it could’ve been much worse, despite the damage her family is facing.

“Our truck is not working but we are so lucky nothing got into the house,” Young said. “Our neighbors all around us have several feet into their homes.”

Flooding was so bad firefighters couldn’t make it to a house fire in Beach Park. Dave Conn, who lives feet away from that home, tried to put out those flames. He said it was sparked by an electric vehicle fire.

“It was about waist deep out here in the street. So, I had to take a kayak down to get to that house,” Conn said.

One of the homeowners said she regrets purchasing an electric vehicle. The flooding also prevented firefighters from making it to another electric vehicle fire around the corner.

The City of Tampa usually opens its garages for people to park their cars ahead of a major storm, like a hurricane. The city also plans to begin debris pickup Monday.

Leaders also said the wastewater pumps are online and water from the faucet is safe to drink.

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