PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — With houses and businesses destroyed during Hurricane Helene, some workers in the bay area have lost their homes and their jobs.
Devynn Maurer said the floodwaters rose so quickly within a two-hour period at her Gulfport area home, that she knew she needed to evacuate.
“I could hear it running underneath the house, like a waterfall,” Maurer said, describing how she quickly grabbed her essentials and left the property. “Passports, money, dogs, clothes.”
Maurer was planning a wedding this year, but now, that has to wait. Days after the storm, she’s already working to do whatever she can to keep money on the table after her food truck was also destroyed in the storm.
“We all know that the insurance doesn’t cover it all,” she said. “It’s fight or flight mode, and I chose fight. I’ll always choose fight.”
Maurer, alongside other beach food service workers whose restaurants were impacted, have teamed up with a local handyman who needs all the help he can get as demand to get homes cleared out skyrockets.
“If there’s going to be someone that’s going to service their community before and after a storm, it’s going to be these guys, and I’m very pleased to have the support of them because it allows me to help more people,” said Jon Connor McKeone of Reality Homeworks Florida.
Homeowners like Greg Unger say their Madeira Beach neighborhood looks like a warzone.
“It’s pretty bad and it’s shocking when you see every house in the neighborhood has been touched in some way, shape or form,” he said.
Maurer said she’s been in touch with FEMA, and they’ve told her it could be a while before she sees relief because they need an itemized list of what was lost. She’s advising people who are in the same situation to take note of what’s been impacted by the storm.
For now, Maurer and her fiancée have a GoFundMe to help with recovery costs. We have a link to that here.
