MADEIRA BEACH, Fla. (WFLA) — With hurricane season looming just a month away, the community in Pinellas County is still dealing with the aftermath of last season’s storms.
Almost seven months have passed since Hurricane Helene hit, yet some residents of the Madeira Beach Yacht Club are still displaced, awaiting permits as the clock ticks down.
The hurricane season kicks off on June 1, but currently, numerous condos are not fit for occupancy. Many of these uninhabitable units belong to seniors who have yet to receive their permits.
Connie Noren, 87, has called the Madeira Beach Yacht Club home for more than three decades, but last year’s hurricane season changed everything.
“After 35 years, I thought that waters never came over the seawall before, so it’ll be okay because I’m alone now, my husband just passed,” Noren said. “Then I watched and I thought, Yeah, that water’s coming over the sea wall.”
As the storm surge moved in, she and her son found themselves trapped inside, but with help from her neighbor, she was able to escape.
“He came in through the back window of my unit and came in, and by then the water was up to here on me,” Noren said. “It was kind of scary. I can swim, but I didn’t know how I was going to get out of there.”
She said the storm swallowed more than her furniture, it swept away a lifetime of memories.
“I’ve lost everything. Everything, I’ve lost all the memories, all the pictures, all the souvenirs. I’ve traveled a lot with being a military wife, and I’ve collected a lot of stuff. So, it’s gone.”
She’s temporarily living upstairs thanks to a neighbor, but she’ll have to be out by June, right as hurricane season ramps up again.
For now, Connie is left navigating the red tape, the repairs and the reality of starting over at 87.
