ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A Shore Acres family is picking up the pieces Monday night after they were hit with a one-two punch from flooding and a fire during the Hurricane Idalia storm surge.
"It's still hard to accept the loss that we had," said Oxalis Garcia. "This was our family home for eight years. This was actually our first home, the first one we ever bought."
Oxalis Garcia, her husband and their son evacuated their home ahead of Hurricane Idalia. They didn't realize then that they'd never return home.
Their home was not only hit by the highest flood water many in the neighborhood said they'd seen in decades but also a fire.
"The neighbor across the street actually came back and waded through the water to check up on her house. She's the one who called me in a panic saying, 'Your house is on fire! Your house is on fire! What can I do? Let me know right now! What can I do?'"
To Garcia's horror, with flooded streets, there was nothing to be done.
"My first reaction was to call the fire department, but the waters were too high, so they really couldn't come here and do anything about it," said Garcia.
Garcia and her family returned to their neighborhood to watch the unthinkable unfold.
"It's a total, complete, and helpless feeling to know that you can't do anything. You just have to watch it go down," said Garcia.
While it's still unclear how the fire started, what is clear is that Garcia and her family are starting over.
"I reached out to the community for help. My goal was to get clothes, shoes and housing... the bare basic necessities so that we could get some sort of stability so that we could start to rebuild our lives."
The response from the community was one of overwhelming support.
Garcia's neighbor, Dr. Meghan Martin, known on TikTok as @BeachGem10, is paying forward financial support she received from her TikTok followers.
In a video now viewed more than 500,000 times, Martin shared how seeing the home on fire in the flood stuck with her, and said it gave her an idea.
In the video, she calls up Garcia, a neighbor she'd only met once before, to say she'd like to pay forward some of the support she had received.
"My community has rallied to support me, so I would like to pay it forward. I would like to pay you $5,000 dollars for repairs for your home," said Martin in the video.
On Monday afternoon, 10 Tampa Bay was there as Martin and Garcia met face-to-face for the first time since the storm tore through their neighborhood.
"I have your check," said Martin. "It's a little bit more because I wanted to give you the money I made off the video and I had some people Venmo me money for you."
Garcia gratefully accepted the donation.
"I am so grateful. I say we love our village. We completely love our village. Because if it had not been for the support of the community, friends and family, we would have still been scrambling," said Garcia.
If you'd like to support Oxalis Garcia and her family, you can donate to their recovery here.