ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (WFLA) — Riviera Bay residents said they’ve prepared their homes the best they can, though they know this storm is a different threat than what they faced with Hurricane Helene.
They described it as an uphill battle, having to face back-to-back storms. Like everyone else, they wait anxiously to see what Hurricane Milton will do.
“This is a new tradition. Every storm we’re putting up the name of the storm and then what year it is,” said Milutin Slijvic, a resident of Riviera Bay. He used duct tape to write out Milton 2024 on a garage door.
He said they had 7 inches of water in their home. His family has lived in the neighborhood for 30 years and never saw flooding like what Helene brought.
LIVE WOBBLE TRACKER: Hurricane Milton wobbles off path, could have huge impacts “It looked like there were houses plugged into the middle of a lake. And the wind was blowing, it was making waves,” said a woman in the neighborhood who asked to be anonymous.
Ariel Dalmau pointed out a watermark still on the front of his house. It reached the bottom of one of the windows.
“We escaped by the side window, I had two kayaks there,” Dalmau said. “We went all the way to, next to Taco Bell.”
St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch urged residents to evacuate as the city will face a different threat with Hurricane Milton than the previous storm.
“We’re expecting winds of over 100 mph, winds we did not receive with Hurricane Helene,” Welch said. “We’re also expecting between 10 to 15 feet of storm surge. That is an unprecedented amount of storm surge and it’s twice the level of Hurricane Helene’s surge.”
Residents did what they could to prepare Tuesday. It was a challenge knowing debris from the last storm still filled their neighborhood, which can be dangerous during the storm.
“All this garbage out here [is] going to be like a weapon for this hurricane,” Dalmau said.
Dalmau said he doesn’t want to be here to see what damage the debris does from not being picked up.
“I don’t even, can’t believe it, that this is happening,” Dalmau said. “Other than that I don’t want to be here. It’s better sometimes when somebody looks for you and you not be there.”
Mandatory evacuations are still in place for zones A, B, C and for people living in mobile homes.
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