County officials expect the recovery to take a while, possibly leaving some in the hardest-hit areas with soaked homes through Thanksgiving.
By BRIDGET HALL GRUMET
Published October 17, 2004
ZEPHYRHILLS - The bathroom floor has buckled, the septic system has caved in, and parts of the ceiling have collapsed in four rooms. Patrick Stephens' mobile home along the New River has been battered and flooded by three storms - but he's still living there.
"I have nowhere else to go," said Stephens, 39, a plumber who became disabled last year after a stroke.
Stephens is waiting for assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to fix up his home, but in the meantime he doesn't have the money to stay anywhere else.
"It's our home. We have to fix it," he said. "It's just one of those things Nature threw at us."
While floodwaters have receded across the county, many residents are still recovering from recent storms. At least 78 Pasco homeowners had water in their homes at some point, and many of them still face the choice of living in a soggy structure or staying somewhere else.
Michele Baker, the county's director of Emergency Management, told the County Commission on Thursday that: "There's the possibility in some of the hardest-hit areas for people to be out of their homes through the holidays," meaning Thanksgiving.
"Oh brother," Commissioner Ann Hildebrand sighed.
Those areas include the homes around Frierson Lake and parts of the Highlands in Hudson; some of the homes around Bass Lake in New Port Richey; and Hickory Hill Acres near Dade City, among others, Baker said.
Even with pumps siphoning water away from 15 soaked areas, Baker said, "it will take a long time" for the water to drain away.
Between rental fees, the cost of gasoline and staff time, the county is spending about $72,000 a month to run the pumps throughout the county. That's on top of a couple of million dollars the county has spent on everything from employee overtime to sandbags to fixing traffic signals damaged by the storms.
Commissioners heard some good news Thursday as they extended the local state of emergency: FEMA will reimburse the county for 100 percent of its expenses for the first three days after each storm, and 90 percent of the expenses after that. The state will reimburse another 5 percent.
Normally FEMA reimburses the county for 75 percent of its storm-related costs.
"It is a huge deal," Baker said. "We've probably spent, between all three disasters, $3-million to $4-million of unplanned, unbudgeted expenditures."
By extending the state of emergency to Oct. 21, the county can seek reimbursement for the ongoing recovery efforts, including pumping and debris cleanup. County-hired crews are roving through neighborhoods to pick up tree branches and other yard debris that are cut into 4-foot sections and stacked near the curb.
Bridget Hall Grumet covers Pasco County government. She can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6244 or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6244. Her e-mail address is bhall@sptimes.com
