PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla., (WFLA) — Hurricanes Helene and Milton struck Tampa Bay nearly a year ago.
Since then, the community has gained significant insights, and on Monday, Congresswoman Kathy Castor organized a roundtable to deliberate on the critical lessons learned and outline future actions.
Hurricane survivors from Riviera Bay and Shore Acres attended the roundtable to recount their experiences. They expressed that individuals are still finding it challenging to return to their homes, not only due to last year’s hurricanes but also from storms from previous years.
Residents in Pinellas County said they live with the water, and with that comes a lot of damage during hurricane season.
“We haven’t been home since Idalia caused flooding, which affected us severely. Additionally, we experienced 39 inches of flooding during Helene, so we’re eager to return home, but there’s still some work that needs to be done,” Courtney Stein remarked.
“We’ve faced multiple instances of flooding, specifically three times with Ada, Idalia, and Helene, significantly impacting our entire community,” Dr. Meghan Martin explained.
The Martin and Stein families said they showed up to the roundtable to be a voice for their communities, because so many people still need help.
“The community needs better access to affordable financial assistance, such as financing, loans, and grants, and we’re highlighting the necessity for support since the area needs more aid,” Stein added.
Earlier in the year, President Trump proposed the elimination of FEMA, suggesting its duties be transferred to the state level. He mentioned that this transition would occur post-hurricane season and has an interim plan ready.
“We’re going to give out less money,” Trump said. “We’re going to give it out directly,”
Recently, a review council he appointed focused more on reforms rather than entirely doing away with FEMA.
“Each and every person we heard from today made it clear that they need a clear rulebook, a set of guideposts that require reform for FEMA,” Schultz said.
Local hurricane survivors said that flooding and hurricanes are not going away, and that funding needs to be available, along with outside sources coming in to help.
“I’d hate to see us turn FEMA away. They did a lot of good work, it was hard to get funding at times, but to eliminate it altogether seems like a very bad idea,” Brian Martin said.
The local survivors said access to all available resources is necessary for people to rebuild and survive in hurricane-prone areas, so communities don’t have to experience this time and time again.
