SARASOTA COUNTY, Fla. — Conditions around Lorraine Road and Palmer Boulevard have improved as flood water significantly decreased Friday compared to previous days when it just sat in homes.
The county's public works team put in a pump at the end of Webber Street which sped up the drainage process and started getting much of the water out from affected neighborhoods.
In addition, different volunteer groups have continued to fan out to help thousands of people impacted by Hurricane Debby with recovery and clean-up operations.
More teams from the Red Cross have hit the streets with disaster relief supplies, a mobile feeding unit, water and cleaning supplies.
Several others have been assigned to canvass the neighborhood to document the flood damage and provide information to homeowners and residents.
"What I'm doing is a visual inspection, looking for damage. We look at waterlines and that gives us an indication of how high the water rose and whether it breached the floor system and got into the home," said one team member surveying the area of Bahia Vista Estates near Phillippi Creek.
"Once we do a visual inspection all the way around the property, we assess the level of damage and it goes into our system. The property owner can contact the Red Cross to see what type of assistance may be available to them," he said.
Aside from the Red Cross, other volunteer groups have found ways to help the community during this challenging time including at Operation Warrior Resolution, a veteran's therapy center.
"See there on the house, that's about 2 to 3 feet of water that was in throughout the house and the whole property so everything was pretty severely damaged with water, and then not much was salvageable," Kendra Simpkins said.
Simpkins founded Operation Warrior Resolution as a charity that would help veterans and their families handle stress and PTSD related to combat.
However, she and members of the group are now dealing with a different kind of trauma. After a long search and fundraising effort, the group had only moved into its new location on Teate Drive in the Sarasota Springs neighborhood only two months ago and had filled it up with brand-new furniture and appliances.
"We just got settled in with all of the items, furniture, equipment that we needed and it was flooded," Simpkins explained.
Now, several from the community have banded together to volunteer with the clean-up and repair work. The volunteers included many people involved in construction work while some others helped with hauling things out to the dumpster.
"We are pulling baseboards off from the water-damaged areas, rearranging things so they can pull up the carpeting," Savannah Hill said.
"We saw how tremendous damage was and obviously that would be distressing to anyone and the little bit that we can do, take a little part out of our day to help anyone is very satisfying," Hill added.
"If I was in the situation, I would be so grateful for the help and the support that was provided to me so the least we can do is give out a little bit of time," Kera Grigsby said.
"The community has been overwhelming and it's been tremendous to see the outpouring of support and the different ways that people want to get involved and help lend a hand to those who have been affected," Simpkins said.
Neighbors who have just started their cleaning-up process said it would be a long journey ahead to recovery.
"She's not going to be able to live here for a while because of the mold and everything so we don't know if it's condemned until Monday," Ann Erwin said.
Erwin is helping an impacted friend who lives in the Bahia Vista Estates and getting help from a group of construction workers sent to assist the residents.
She said all the affected neighbors many of whom are seniors would need all the help they can get.
"As far as I can see, all the help is welcome and they've been with us for about two days," Erwin said.
A multi-agency resource center will open up at Sarasota Christian Church on Ashton Road in Sarasota starting on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Those hours will be the same for Monday but on Sunday the center will be open to the community between 1 and 5 p.m.
Local and state resources will be available as well as information on how to get various kinds of storm impact relief assistance including requesting volunteers to deploy to help out at one's home.