‘The only thing that’s still here is my building’: Homeowners, residents navigate next steps after Helene

PORT RICHEY, Fla. (WFLA) — Jeffrey Broeske owns Big John’s Tires in Port Richey.

“The only thing that’s still here is my building,” Broeske said.

It’s been his pride and joy for 15 years.

“I live an hour away from here, but I grew up here,” he said. “That’s why I opened this shop and I drive an hour to the shop every day so I can serve the community I grew up in.”

Below is what his shop looked like Thursday night as the storm surge from Hurricane Helene rushed into coastal communities.

“I checked my cameras and there was an inch of water in here,” Broeske said. “30 minutes later there was 4 feet of water and there was nothing I could save.”

“After all that, if I lose what I have now, I don’t know,” he said. “It’s been a long time in the making to lose this now.”

Officials say there were more than 200 rescues in Pasco County alone.

Pasco County Administrator Mike Carballa said at one point, it felt hopeless.

“We had fires that we couldn’t respond to,” he said. “We had people, you know, power is out, it’s dark, water is coming into their house and they couldn’t get out.”

People like 85-year-old Gail Moon, who had to be rescued from her condo early Friday morning.

“It came within five minutes,” she said. “I saw the light and I started screaming help, help, help, help.”

Carballa said they had hundreds of calls for help from people just like Moon.

“The call from the 911 operators, ‘we’re going to get to you when we can,'” Carballa said. “At one point in the evening, we had 400-500 calls for service. We were lucky if we could answer 20% of those at the time.”

Now, as the initial crisis seems to be over, the road to recovery begins.

That starts with coming back home to see the damage.

“The water got up this high inside,” Bill said.

Residents like Bill walked News Channel 8 through their homes to get a firsthand look at the aftermath.

Just walking through the front door, the devastation begins.

“This right here used to sit over there,” he said, pointing to a cabinet that floated across the room.

Robert Luke’s dream came true nine years ago when he opened Robert’s Smokin’ BBQ in Port Richey.

“It’s everything that I know,” he said. “It’s all that we have.”

Luke couldn’t believe just how fast the storm surge rose.

“The smokers were under water,” he said.

Luke spent Friday in a race against time, trying to cook all the meat he had before it went to waste.

He stopped for a moment to take a look at his dream now in shambles.

“My kids told me something nine years ago when I first opened my doors,” he said. “If you dream it, you can achieve it if you believe it.”

“We’ll rebuild,” he said as tears fell from his eyes. “We’ll rebuild.”

Click here to be connected to resources in Pasco County if you need help with food, shelter, or water.

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