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Florida seniors displaced by Hurricane Helene face 'endless' need for help

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Published  October 4, 2024 5:03am EDT
Hurricane Helene
FOX 13 News

Seniors displaced by the storm

One week ago, Hurricane Helene roared past our coast, taking lives and causing a crippling amount of destruction. Thousands of homes are uninhabitable now, and many of them are owned by seniors.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Florida's senior population is among the largest in the U.S., and advocates say they are seeing so many displaced by Hurricane Helene who face unique challenges recovering. 

"A ton of seniors [are] displaced because so many seniors in our community have lived in their homes for years and years," said Elli Baldwin, who runs Sunways Senior Living Concierge and is helping seniors displaced by the storm.

She said the need is endless.

Many seniors on Florida's Gulf Coast were impacted by Hurricane Helene. Now there's a great need for help.

Many seniors on Florida's Gulf Coast were impacted by Hurricane Helene. Now there's a great need for help.

"A lot of times those are homes that might be our most vulnerable during a storm. They're single-story. They might be from the 1950s or the 1960s. And so they just don't necessarily have the infrastructure or like the codes that some of the new construction have. And so when we saw all that flooding happen, a lot of those homes are the ones that got hit the hardest," said Baldwin.

So many seniors were impacted and are facing challenges finding temporary housing that meets their needs in a market that already has limited inventory.

"They might have mobility issues. They financially might have restrictions, etc., and so they might not have access to the resources that others in the community have. And so it's really all of us kind of banding together," said Baldwin.

READ: Governor DeSantis tours flood-soaked Anna Maria Island

Right now, Baldwin and her team are trying to connect displaced seniors with options and resources and are looking for solutions.

She says no resource is too small.

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"Anybody that has a rental, even if it's like, ‘I can rent for the next month because we're not having any visitors because our beaches are destroyed right now, so I can rent this out for a month while somebody is getting their house worked on,’" she said.

Baldwin also says volunteering with Meals on Wheels, donating blankets and checking on your neighbors are some of the ways you can help seniors.

For more information on Sunways Senior Living Concierge, click here.

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