Recovery from Helene ongoing as FEMA begins accepting applications

PALM HARBOR, Fla. — FEMA announced Sunday that President Biden approved federal disaster assistance for hard-hit areas in Florida.

This means people in Pinellas, Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, Hernando and Citrus counties can start applying.

Residents that applied to FEMA after Hurricane Debby and have additional damage from Hurricane Helene will need to apply separately for Helene and provide the dates of their most recent damage.

Apply for either storm online at DisasterAssistance.gov.

Applications can also be submitted by using the FEMA mobile app or by calling FEMA’s helpline toll-free at 800-621-3362.

For people like Tina Granata and others in her Palm Harbor neighborhood, the recovery is still in its early stages.

Describing the condition of her house, every part of Granata’s home ended up multiple feet underwater because of storm surge.

“All of this stuff was just toppled on top of each other.”

The water marks left from the flooding remind Granata of the moment she knew that she needed to escape with her daughter from her home Thursday night.

“Mainly the thing that goes through my mind is me running out this door with my daughter, with my 12-year-old-daughter and the water was up to here and she was really scared,” she said.  

Holding her daughter’s hand with one arm and her cats in the other, she did everything she could to get away.

“My tires were fully submerged in water as I’m driving down the street to the stop sign,” she said. “I wasn’t sure that we were going to make it.”

Despite cleaning since Friday, there’s no end in sight, as nearly everything in the home has to be thrown out.

Granata does not have flood insurance.

She’s hoping that with FEMA accepting applications for those affected by the hurricane, she’ll be able to receive assistance.

“It’s life changing,” she said. “You see, the things that you’ve worked really hard for just all gone in a matter of hours. It’s just devastation.”

Granata wanted to emphasize that she is not the only facing this kind of damage.

Almost everyone on her street has belongings lined up on the curb that need to be thrown away.