Hurricane response lessons learned after historic 2024 storms

PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — From residents rebuilding their homes themselves to professionals hired to do the job, a lot of lessons learned from last year’s hurricanes are being put into play this year.

More than one year since Hurricanes Helene and Milton, homeowner Linda Zolper continues to rebuild. Thursday was a sign of progress with the delivery of more than 40 impact windows that crews started installing.

“I’m excited to see them go in,” said Zolper, who added the decision to increase hurricane preparedness was an easy one.

“I think the storm taught us a lot about how to prepare for the next hurricane and we just wanted to make sure that most of all that the family was safe inside, so the hurricane windows give us a lot more protection from debris flying and the possibility of wind damage,” she said.

From residents to professionals hired to help rebuild, the historic 2024 hurricane season provided lessons for many aspects of recovery.

Licensed contractor TomCo Solutions says it has installed more than twice as many impact windows this year compared to last.

TomCo Vice President Matt Klaus says permits and timelines have been among the biggest challenges this season.

“The magnitude, the number of homes that need to be rebuilt, so what we found there was a lot of shortage of labor. There was a lot of shortage of materials so on and so forth, so it definitely made us change the expectations that we had to set for our clients to take those things into consideration,” said Klaus. 

From impact windows to flood barriers, Klaus said homeowners are more inclined to rebuild with additional protective measures, like flood barriers.

For homes that were flooded, Klaus says they have modified communication with clients.

“We’ve really had to change the fact that we incorporate technology to get pictures to them so they can see it, have access, setting up cameras onsite so they can see people that are on the job site,” said Klaus.

This area will be a job site for about another month. Zolper hopes to be back in by December.

“It’s just been a waiting game, really trying to get everything lined up and all the decisions made,” said Zolper.