Barrier island residents in Pinellas County continue rebuilding after Helene
Recovery one year after the storms
Friday marks one year since Helene changed our coast forever, and our barrier islands in Pinellas County were the hardest hit. Several feet of water inundated islands like Indian Rocks Beach. Kylie Jones reports.
INDIAN ROCKS BEACH, Fla. - A year after Hurricane Helene, the devastation still haunts residents on the barrier islands in Pinellas County.
Helene sent several feet of storm surge rushing into homes and businesses on Indian Rocks Beach.
The backstory:
The barrier islands in Pinellas County were some of the hardest hit areas during Helene.
Homes and businesses around the island were filled with floodwater. Many people evacuated, but some residents stayed behind.
In Indian Rocks Beach, parts of the island are still in recovery mode, and some people who were originally displaced are still not back in their homes.
The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office reported nine deaths associated with Helene.
A year after Helene, the island continues to recover.
"Every day gets better," Heather Boles said.
Boles says their home on the island is still gutted, after it flooded during Helene, destroying almost everything she and Mike Moran owned.
"You look at the silver lining, it's a fresh start," Moran said.
They moved into a new home down the street, and they don't have plans of ever moving back to their original home that her family owned for decades.
"What I want everyone to know - we have not totally recovered," Boles said.
PREVIOUS: Pinellas teacher dies in dangerous storm surge caused by Hurricane Helene
Boles and Moran reflect on when Indian Rocks Beach looked and felt like a year ago, right after Helene barreled through the island.
What they're saying:
"Walking dead," Moran said. "I mean, it's just, people had hurricane brain. You know, it was just, you just saw the locals and people that lost everything just like in a daze. They're just like, 'What do we do? What's the next step? What's the next motion?'"
The couple's close friend, Marty Thomas, has lived on the island all of his life and had never experienced a hurricane like Helene.
"It was just, it was like a war zone," Thomas said. "Nothing like I'd ever seen before."
Thomas also stayed on the island and rode out the storm. He had his paddleboard waiting by the window of his home, in case he needed to escape rising floodwaters.
"I put a paddleboard out my window, so I know I had an escape route in case, you know, got too deep," Thomas said. "So, because I told myself, once it hit my windows and the water started to come in into my windows. We've all heard the horror stories from Katrina."
Thomas didn't expect to be paddling through flooded streets with his neighbors on the back of his board.
He pulled about a dozen people out of their windows and through the floodwaters that night.
"I didn't really give it much thought at all, to be honest with you," Thomas said. "I just was, you know, helping my neighbors."
As floodwater filled homes, whisked away cars and almost everything they all owned, one of the losses can never be replaced or rebuilt.
"Donna went to go check on her cat," Moran said. "She should've waited another hour. You know, animals are resilient. Life can't be brought back."
Donna Fagersten, a longtime Pinellas County Schools teacher, was riding out the storm with Boles and Moran.
She went back to her first-floor apartment to check on her cat, but she couldn't make it back through the floodwaters to higher ground.
"That's the main thing, I mean, our best friend," Boles said.
No day goes by without subtle reminders throughout their new homes of this loss.
Thomas has Donna's surfboard displayed in his new home, in her memory.
"I do have her board here above me, which I feel blessed to have that board," Thomas said. "It has a lot of meaning to me."
The board also holds a medal that Thomas received from the American Red Cros, honoring him for his heroic rescues he made the night Helene came through.
Residents are also reminded of the devastation from Helene every day, as some homes, businesses and landmarks on the island are still closed and being repaired.
"They don't realize that there is still, there's a tarp on our neighbor's roof behind us, and our old home is still gutted," Boles said.
What's next:
The dunes are also about to start undergoing renourishment.
"Do not take a warning for granted," Boles said.
Although Helene stole many things from the community of Indian Rocks Beach, the community gained valuable lessons and a spirit that money can't buy.
"Everyone's looking out for each other more, and it's like, 'Hey, let's rebuild and be a stronger community'," Moran said.
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The Source: Information for this story was gathered by FOX 13's Kylie Jones.