Helene Devastation and Cleanup

HERNANDO BEACH – The destruction caused by Hurricane Helene along the coast is extreme. The devastation in Hernando Beach increases as you approach the Gulf of Mexico. The bottom stories of many houses that are directly facing the Gulf were destroyed by the surge. Standing in front of these homes, you can look through the shattered bottom story and see the Gulf behind. Some of these homes were designed so that in a bad storm, the bottom story would be washed away and the rest of the building would be structurally sound. Other homes are single-story and look to be completely destroyed.

To give you an idea of the power of the storm, the drywall around some of these homes is broken down into dime-sized pieces. Brian Elferdink explained that the water pounding on his refrigerator crushed it and pushed it out of its alcove and dragged it through the house and out the front door. Much of his first floor was decimated by the storm. There was a plethora of items strewn all about outside from the houses and in the canal, there was a full-sized pickup truck.

Speaking with long-time residents, they say that this storm surge was both higher, longer, and more churning than the 1993 No Name storm surge. Hurricane Idalia, which struck last year, caused significant damage but did not approach this storm in terms of ferocity. The hurricanes in the past have been compared to the No Name storm, but now there is a new benchmark against which to compare other storms.

The Hernando County government reported that 28 people were rescued from the storm. Of the people rescued, 13 were rescued during the night of Helene and 15 were rescued the morning after. There were 7 fires reported and the majority of them were lithium batteries. The preliminary damage assessment by the county shows that the damage was extensive with so far 529 houses reported as having sustained significant damage and 3 houses were destroyed. The county also reported that 18 houses had minor damage and 8 were affected. The Sheriff’s Office reported that there were no deaths from the storm.
On Oct. 1, Hernando County Sheriff’s Office reported that a total of 3000 cubic yards of debris had been removed from coastal areas. Additionally, 22 businesses have been impacted by the storm and some have reopened, like the Drunken Mullet and the Lazy Lizard.

Weeki Wachee Area Club

The United Way is set up to help people at the Weeki Wachee Area Club. They have lots of pamphlets with information on recovering from the disaster. On Sunday, they were handing out food as well as clean-up supplies such as muck-out kits, tarps, buckets, and cleaning supplies. They also had non-perishable food items and packs of bottled water.

There were tables set up with donated clothes that were free for people in need from the storm as well as children’s toys and stuffed animals. Kids donated their toys to the children who had lost their toys in the storm, attaching personalized notes.

Phone chargers, starlink WiFi, and computers are available. United Way Executive Directory Angie B. Walasek explained that now that a Disaster Declaration has been made, residents can file for FEMA Assistance. The volunteers were “working on walking them through the process.”

For businesses affected by the hurricane, Ashley Hofecker, Greater Hernando County Chamber of Commerce CEO, advised that from Oct. 1 – 9, FloridaCommerce is partnering with the Florida Small Business Development Center Network and CareerSource Florida to bring One-Stop Business Resource Sites to 17 counties impacted by Hurricane Helene. These sites provide support and resources to businesses and employees impacted by the storm. The Weeki Wachee Area Club is one of the One-Stop Business Resource Sites. It will be open Oct. 5 and 6 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The Florida SBDC at USF will also be onsite at the Weeki Wachee Area Club on Tuesday, Oct. 8 and Wednesday, Oct. 9, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. They will be able to guide businesses affected by Helene on the SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL), SBA Physical Disaster Loan and the Florida Small Business Emergency Bridge Loan Program.

The Weeki Wachee Area Club saw at least 500 people stop by on Oct. 1, according to the Sheriff’s Office, as they are serving breakfast, lunch and dinner. Mental health services are also available.
Items that they need include laundry detergent, personal hygiene items, large paint buckets, gardening and work gloves.

The Coast Guard Auxiliary Parking Lot

There is an online clearing house for disasters called Crisiscleanup.org. A person in need can fill out a work order to have a house mucked out, trees cut up, tarps for damaged roofs, and debris removal.

Over the weekend, there were two groups at the Coast Guard Auxiliary building helping people to sign up for assistance. There was William Cooper from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and LJ Johns from the Spring Hill Neighbors Facebook page. They were assisting residents in creating work orders. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had around a 125 volunteers working on the work orders. They were one of several groups fulfilling the work orders.

Cooper explained that the work orders are mostly fulfilled during the weekend since most of the volunteers work during the week. Depending on the volume of local work orders and the number of volunteers, it could take a few weekends for a work order to be fulfilled.

To create a work order at Crisiscleanup.org, you need to select the natural disaster in their area. Once you select a disaster, there is a number that you call to fill out the form and add a work order to the system. For Hurricane Helene, the Hotline closes on Friday, October 25, 2024.

The work orders are then fulfilled by local organizations and church groups that are there taking and fulfilling these work orders.

Linda Farmer was there with a team handing out supplies. There were cleaning supplies as well as many donated items. There was a diverse variety of items to help those in need, such as clothes, a toaster, a wagon, and all sorts of cleaning supplies.

The Coast Guard Auxiliary Building itself had been flooded with several feet of water. People were working on cleaning it out. Using a folding table to push out the remaining water and then sweeping out the rest. They were making it a space that could be used by the residents and volunteers again.