PASCO COUNTY, Fla. — On Tuesday, a service center will open at the New Port Richey library to help residents fill out FEMA forms in regards to Hurricane Helene.
Located at 5939 Main Street, New Port Richey, the center will be open from Oct. 1 to Saturday, Oct. 12, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
People in Pasco County told us they need all the help they can get as they try to navigate life after Helene.
“Been living in this house 50 years. First time we’ve ever had water, and it came in about 5 inches throughout the entire house,” Thad Lowry from New Port Richey said.
Meanwhile, on Maryland Avenue in Judson, Joshua Burns said his home took in 5 feet of water.
“I’m still going through and salvaging everything, but obviously beds, dressers… Literally nothing is able to be saved,” Burns said.
The neighborhoods are now lined with debris and soaked furniture. A scent lingers that reminds people of the long road ahead.
The depth of the damage in these communities does not translate through a screen.
“When you're sitting at home looking at it on TV or Facebook, it’s nothing," Donna Hillard, a Port Richey resident volunteering to clean up, said. Then when you get out in the neighborhoods, the sounds, the smells—it's horrific what people are going through.”
A state report says hundreds of frail elderly nursing home residents were stacked side by side, head to toe in a small church with no working air conditioning or refrigerator during Hurricane Helene.