TAMPA, Fla. — If you’re driving through Tampa’s University Area today, it may look back to normal for you.
However, it’s not. The area was underwater in October after Hurricane Milton passed by.
Many businesses and homeowners are still dealing with the impacts and trying to rebuild.
Mona Maisuriya is one of those people. She owns Crazy Hair and Beauty Salon off of Fowler Avenue.
She found water inside her shop the day after Hurricane Milton passed.
“I was shocked. I was like, what’s going on here? The next day, we just came to work, and my husband said, 'Oh, we had a flood; there’s so much water here,’” said Maisuriya.
There was at least a foot and a half of water inside.
“We had so much water inside the store,” said Maisuriya.
The water damaged the floor, the walls, and the furniture.
It was almost too much to bear for a business that had only been open for eight months at the time.
“It was very hard, very difficult,” said Maisuriya.
She spent hours trying to clean her shop, hoping she’d be able to get customers back in soon after.
“We only have this place to make money. We don’t have any other job or anything, so I was thinking, like, if it’s clean, I can make some money to spend for rent or food or anything for our kids. And we have three kids, so we need money for that too,” said Maisuriya.
She and her husband had to shut down for two months to make repairs—an expense that came out of their own pockets because there was no insurance money available to them.
That’s because Tampa’s University Area isn’t in a flood zone. It wasn't supposed to flood.
Maisuriya wants to see the city step in to help.
“Yeah, they have to do something for that. We all have so much damage,” said Maisuriya.
Tampa City Councilman Luis Viera has been talking to people in communities that experienced unexpected flooding, like the Univeristy Area.
“People are living their worst life. People are going through hell right now. People, their homes are gone, they’re sleeping on their friends’ couches, they’re sleeping in their parents’ home. They’re shacking up two, three families at a time,” said Viera.
“These folks work hard, and they were devastated by what happened. They’re not in a flood zone and this is something that was totally unanticipated for them,” he added.
Viera told ABC Action News that the city is working on getting an independent contractor to review what went wrong, how much of the city’s infrastructure is to blame, and how to prevent it from ever happening again.
“We have to take a look at things like our pumps, our culverts, etc. etc., our backup generators. That’s something that the independent contractor is going to be looking at… it’s so important that a review like this be done independently, not within the county, not within the city, but by a separate entity,” said Viera.
He also said he’s working with Mayor Jane Castor on a $3 million package proposal to help people who’ve had damage.
“I’m being told it should come to city council next week. I’m hoping it’ll come next week for a vote… I see this as step one for the city, in terms of assisting people. I’ll certainly be calling for more money,” said Viera.
In the meantime, people like Maisuriya are depending on the community now more than ever, trying to figure out how to move forward.
“We need the support. Because after eight months [of just having opened], when it happens like that, you’re totally broke. We spent so much money to build the store. And suddenly, it just happens like that, I was just in depression. Like, I feel like so much crying and all that,” said Maisuriya.
