PASCO COUNTY, Fla. — We are committed to telling the stories of those who work and live in our community. So, when a viewer asked us to cover the storm damage along Miller Bayour Drive, we had to see it ourselves.
Lorraine Hale sent us an email that said her community has been "Working feverishly... Trying to salvage whatever is left of our personal belongings... As well as appliances... Pretty much anything and everything we could and can still save."
She said, "I realize we may be a small number, but the impact was monumental... We lost everything."
What used to make up a living room where memories were made now lines the streets of Miller Bayou Drive in Port Richey. Couches, tables, and flooring were all waiting for trash pickup.
"We used to call it paradise, but now I just say it's such a nightmare," Hale said.
Hale said she can't wake up as she works nearly 20 hours daily desperately trying to salvage what Hurricane Idalia destroyed.
"My cabinets, my refrigerator, all my appliances, my doors, my flooring, everything, everything's gone," Hale explained.
Hale's washing machine is now buckets in her backyard. Fans and humidifiers were going non-stop to try and save pictures, helping keep her family's legacy alive.
"This is Miller Bayou back in like 1958… That's my grandfather and grandmother," Hale explained.
Now, Miller Bayour's beauty brings pain, reminding Hale that the paradise comes with a hefty cost she said she couldn't maintain.
"Prices were skyrocketing. Taxes, property taxes kept going up. I felt happy with Citizens, then they said, 'Hey, we're going to change it. Here's our flood quote through one of our partners, and I just went, oh my god, I can't afford that," Hale said.
Hale went without flood insurance and said she didn't know what she was against. She said she was not asking for sympathy, just some grace after she said FEMA's quote wouldn't even put a dent into the damage left behind.
"I feel like people don't understand the scale of what we got back here and in Port Richey. Everything's gone. Everything's gone.
We asked Hale what moving forward looks like for her.
"Great question. I feel very deflated, defeated right now. Every day, I feel a little better. Great question. I wish I had a good answer for that. I just don't know," Hale added.
But, for now, she said she's just trying to salvage what she can and taking it one day at a time.
"It is still home, and I still love it... I've been very down. Lots of tears. Lots of laughs. I have to recover and move on. I feel this is a family legacy, and I have to keep going. Rebuild. Pull it together. Mentally and physically," Hale explained.
Again, we were tipped off to visit that area of Port Richey from a viewer email. We read and vet each news tip that comes into our newsroom. So we encourage you that if you have a story idea you'd like us to check out, you can reach out to us by emailing newstips@wfts.com
