HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — Life on Davis Islands one year after Hurricane Helene is described as a “new normal.”
The Sept. 2024 storm pushed several feet of water into areas of South Tampa and Davis Islands.
“Inside we had 12 inches,” said Jeff Single, general manager and operating partner at 220 East, a restaurant in the village of Davis Islands.
He said his restaurant was spared the worst of the storm surge because it is set back.
Other businesses had several feet of water.
Still, they got rid of just about everything at 220 East, including food, appliances and furniture.
“Fifty plus hurricanes I’ve been through, that was the first that I’ve ever seen something like that. Scariest night of my life watching it on the streets here and things like that, then the next morning seeing the devastation was unbelievable,” he said.
It took work for Davis Islands businesses to get back on their feet.
“The island is the greatest community I’ve ever lived in and been a part of. We all came together and we all ended up with some kind of new normalcy,” said Single.
“Coming together” is what Caroline Ducoin, a resident of Davis Islands, remembers most about the harrowing days after Hurricane Helene.
“It’s definitely, I think, more of what we need to be talking about these days – is when people show up when they don’t have to, break a sweat when they don’t have to, work hard for you when they don’t have to,” she said.
Ducoin lost almost everything in her home, including her kids’ baby clothes and her grandmother’s cookbooks.
“The thoughts about how do we get through this? What even happens here? What’s going to happen? It was terrifying,” she said.
But, she said, Ducoin and her neighbors got through it together.
There are still reminders of the storm surge throughout her renovated home.
Some, including on her daughter’s bedroom drapes, she couldn’t get out.
In the garage, though, she keeps a reminder.
“I don’t want to forget where the water was. I want to always remember how high it was and I don’t know. There’s something about actually cleaning that part that I just can’t do,” she said.
Ducoin said she would never consider leaving Davis Islands.
She said she respects the water and will face whatever the weather brings.
According to a city of Tampa spokesperson, the city issued 1,544 permits for home repairs from last year’s hurricanes.
People on Davis Islands said there are still many homes still with work underway.
Want more insights? Join Working Title - our career elevating newsletter and get the future of work delivered weekly.
