Treasure Island continues to recover from Hurricane Helene as next hurricane season approaches

PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — Hurricane season starts in just a few days and residents on Treasure Island are still recovering.

"It's like a different world…I mean, when you think about what happened in October…total devastation, nothing was open, debris piles everywhere, everybody in chaos…and now you look and it looks like almost a neighborhood," said Nancy Watters, who lives on Treasure Island.

Watch full report from Casey Albritton

Since last hurricane season, Treasure Island has gone from a devastated community to a city full of hope.

“The difference is like night and day….between that and what is occurring right now and the last few weeks," said George Williams, who also lives on Treasure Island.

Treasure Island was flooded by Hurricane Helene last year.

“I basically lost everything from the waist down. Clothes, cabinetry, furniture, all your paperwork," said Watters.

“It was the worst thing I’ve ever seen in the over 30 years that I’ve lived here," said Williams.

At first, the priority was cleanup.

“There were more than 600 dump trucks from around the state that got over here and cleaned everything up," said John Doctor, Mayor of Treasure Island.

However, it then became issuing permits for repairs.

“The permitting was an exhausting, overwhelming, totally frustrating…and that’s partly because of our knowledge. We’ve never spoken this language before," said Watters.

It took a while for permits to be issued following the storms because of staffing issues and FEMA requirements.

But going into next hurricane season, Treasure Island Mayor John Doctor said they are more prepared.

“We will be much better prepared…I think we learned is that yes, we do have some resources going to the county and the state, but going out to the private entities as well that have trained folks," said Mayor Doctor.

Now, the island is back open, hosting festivals and welcoming visitors to local restaurants, like VIP Mexican-American Cuisine, which reopened in March.

“Busier than normal for sure, but definitely not the numbers we’ve seen in the past, but I'd say since we’ve opened back up it’s been an amazing time," said Zachary Valind who works at the restaurant.

While this hurricane season holds many unknowns. Treasure Island residents are resilient.

“They have a real grounding here, and they don’t want to give up so yeah, the support here and the feeling here is we will survive, we will overcome and we will rebuild," said Watters.