‘It looked like a lake’: Pinellas community hit by flooding yet again, still recovering from Hurricane Idalia
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (WFLA) — Severe weather flooded out several neighborhoods in our coastal communities this weekend.
Several roads were closed in St. Petersburg as the shore acres area flooded yet again.
This is a devastating hit to a community still recovering from Hurricane Idalia.
“The street was deep,” Shore Acres resident Sylvia Babus explained. “I went out in some rubber boots later and it almost came to my knees.”
“It looked like a lake,” she continued. “The whole street looked like a lake.”
This was the view from her front porch as the water began to rise over Bayou Grande Blvd. yet again.
“Woke up in the morning bright and early because the dogs always wake us up at the crack of dawn, and I looked out and I said, ‘Oh my goodness, look at the water in the canal.'”
“It was almost up to the sea wall,” she continued.
It was a gut-wrenching sight for a couple who has been sleeping on an air mattress since hurricane Idalia hit with an empty kitchen and most of their belongings sitting in the garage.
“To view how much stuff you have that’s sitting in this big pile, but every contractor that comes in covers it all up with plastic while they work,” Babus explained. “When you come back in you have to tear open the plastic to get a pair of pajamas that you’re not tired of seeing.”
“It’s been tricky,” she continued.
This is what their garage looked like Sunday, as the water rose high enough to submerge the floor.
But despite the trials and tribulations of living on the water, Sylvia’s husband Bela tells 8 On Your Side he has high hopes for their future.
“Piece by piece,” he explained. “First they had to clean it all out, now restore the walls.”
“It will get there,” he continued. “I have confidence it will get there.”
“With a view as beautiful as this, would you say it’s worth the price?,’ 8 On Your Side reporter Nicole Rogers asked.
“Yes, it is,” Bela responded. “We always come out here in the mornings, fresh air, sunshine.”
“Florida is still Florida,” he continued.
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