ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — People who live at the corner of 17th Ave South and 6th Street South in St. Petersburg spent the entire day cleaning up after the storm.
Colon Thomas said he was home when an EF-0 tornado made its way through south St. Pete.
“Everything was so fast," Thomas said. "I saw it in the air and we tried to come around but the water and everything was so high and everybody was telling me to get back.”
Downed power lines and parts of the roof are now sitting in puddles of water. One building is without power due to roofing material hanging on a line.
Thomas said that's just what you can see from the outside.
“I do know we have a leak over here on the roof and I got stuff on my floor,” Thomas said.
St. Pete Mayor Ken Welch stopped by to see it firsthand and hear from neighbors.
“Our focus is to work with Duke Energy and try to get electricity back on as soon as possible and there's some other issues that the folks have brought forward that we're going to address,” he said.
One concern Thomas has is where he is going to live.
Code enforcement was in the area Wednesday morning to assess the damage.
“What do we do? Is the property owner responsible or do we have to go out and find a place for my family,” Thomas said.
The mayor said he's addressing these concerns with city crews like code enforcement to see if they can expedite some repairs.
Neighbors said Time Square Properties owns this place. 10 Tampa Bay reached out to them with a big concern for neighbors putting tarps on their roofs before the next storm comes in. So far, we have not heard back.
Neighbors added that when a big storm comes in, they usually worry about flooding and parking lots will pretty much be turned into a pool, kind of like what people in Snell Isle and Shore Acres usually experience.
Welch said the city placed pumps outside those neighborhoods and checked storm drains to prepare, but the city knows they need a more permanent plan moving forward.
“The Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council did a study that said this would happen," Welch said. "Two to 7 feet of sea level rise by 2100. So now, we really have to get our adaptation and mitigation plans into place so that will be a priority for us going forward.”
Welch said eventually a lot of homeowners are going to want to elevate their houses. A project like that is a substantial investment that could include a partnership between federal and state partners.