Hurricane Helene: Where the Tampa Bay area stands one week after the storm

One week later: Helene's impact across the Bay Area

Evan Axelbank reports

TAMPA, Fla. - It has been one week since Hurricane Helene changed the lives of tens of thousands of people across the Tampa Bay area.

From Sarasota County to Citrus County and beyond, homes and businesses have been damaged, people have been injured and some have even died. So many people lost so much in a storm they never imagined would be this bad.

Beth Gutierrez has lost her things, and the illusion that Davis Islands is high enough from sea level for her belongings to be safe in a storm.

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"I'm thinking about leaving. I've been here for 25, 30 years," she said. "I can't do another hurricane season at this level."

She is one of hundreds on Davis Islands who are getting used to a life of insurance adjusters, refurbishments and a new sense of vulnerability.

"You have to tell yourself it's not going to happen to you," said Gutierrez. "But, it did."

Unincorporated Hillsborough County was left with 2,500 damaged buildings after the storm. Pinellas County reported 28,000 damaged structures while Pasco County reported more than 9,900. Manatee and Sarasota counties reported a combined 8,600.

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"What can you do? There's nothing," said one Manatee County resident on Thursday. "You could cry, but it won't work."

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement said medical examiners have reported 22 deaths related to Hurricane Helene. Of that total, 12 of those deaths happened in Pinellas County, two in Manatee County, two in Hillsborough County and one in Citrus County.

And of course, it killed hundreds on its awful path through Georgia and North Carolina.

"There's other people having a lot worse off, I think," said Patrick Shannon of Davis Islands, whose family lost most of their belongings. "So just look on the bright side."

READ: Cleanup of 'unprecedented' storm debris will take 'weeks if not months,' Pinellas officials say

Shannon's family survived, but a piece of their family history did not. It was a desk used by his great-grandmother that was damaged in the Davis Islands flood.

"No matter what it takes, we're going to try and rebuild it to some degree," said Shannon. "There's nothing you can do or say that changes the pile of mess that we have here."

One reason debris cleanup is taking so long is because trucks can only fit one or two houses worth of debris at a time, so they have to load, drive to unload it, and then go back to the same neighborhood.

It could all take months to complete.

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