CLEARWATER, Fla. (WFLA) — When Hurricane Milton hit in October 2024, Oscar Valderrama was living with his family in a first-floor apartment at the Standard Apartment complex in Clearwater.
“When Milton hit us, we lost everything,” Valderrama said. “We had about eight feet of water in our unit.”
More than 500 people had to be evacuated from the complex.
“It was scary,” Valderrama said. “It was like I was in a movie basically, a scary situation. My son is still traumatized and stuff. He’s like, are we going to flood?”
Clearwater police Lieutenant Mike Spitaleri arrived to help coordinate a multi-agency response at the complex.
“It was incredibly chaotic,” Spitaleri said. “It was immediately apparent from our initial arrival that we had to take police action.”
Clearwater Police Officer Cole Klein waded through water to help evacuate people and pets.
“You could see how defeated some people were,” Klein said. “I mean, everything they owned is underwater or floating in their units, but you could still see the glimmer of hope they had as we were getting them up on the boats and getting them out of there.”
Now, the agency has a new high-water rescue vehicle to help get people out of situations like the one at the apartment complex.
“This vehicle will give us the ability to get through water and get to destinations we wouldn’t have been able to get to last year,” Spitaleri said.
Work is still ongoing at the complex to repair and renovate the first-floor apartments damaged by the floodwater. Oscar Valderrama says he and his family are now living in a second-floor apartment and doing much better.
“We’ve recovered, so we’re okay,” Valderrama said. “Me and my family, we’re okay.”
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