PALMETTO BEACH, Fla — DeSoto Park residents thought they had seen it all from Mother Nature, but then Hurricane Helene arrived with a storm surge unlike anything they had ever experienced.
"If you look down the street, it’s just everyone’s stuff is down the road, everyone’s full house, we have to rebuild basically from scratch," said Robert Williams.
After a lot of hard work, the house Williams and his wife have rented for the last four years is nearly empty. They've been able to clear out all of their things and put it curbside.
"Some people have been here their whole lives and never had anything like this happen before," said Williams.
He said three feet of water rushed into their home around 10 p.m. Thursday as Helene's storm surge reached the coast.
"It just started coming in from everywhere, wall, sockets, door frames, up through cracks in the tile, like everywhere," he said.
The water took a lot of his neighbors by surprise, too, Williams said.
"We were seeing people swimming. There was a kayak out here. I walked around the front to see if I could turn off the breaker, and it was up to my chest," he said.
Williams's wife is pregnant, and at that moment, they knew it was time to go, so they climbed through a window to escape.
"The last thing she grabbed was like the sonogram picture," he said.
Friday, they came back to a water-logged home.
"Luckily, we have an amazing support system, friends, family, and coworkers, like everyone has been amazing. Everyone has reached out, but yeah, it’s been terrible," Williams said. "One of the worst moments of my life. But we'll be okay."
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