HUDSON, Fla. — Hopeless doesn’t even describe it— what Rhonda Farley is feeling right now is something much worse.
“I don’t have anywhere to go. I’m a senior. We retired here. You know, what are we going to do?” she said.
At the Gulf Breeze Mobile Home Park in Hudson, almost every home flooded during Helene, including Farley’s.
“I was scared to death,” she recalled. “I never call my daughter. I called her and said, ‘You have to get me rescued. Get me out of here. I’m scared. I can’t swim. I’m going to drown.’”
A week later, she and the other neighbors feel forgotten, overlooked, and lost. They’re also angry because Pasco County has declared many homes there unsafe, since floors and electrical outlets were compromised by the flooding.
Neighbors worry the homes will be condemned next.
“I don’t know what tomorrow’s going to look like, honey,” Farley said. “I don’t.”
The county is urging Gulf Breeze mobile home owners to go to the county’s shelter in Hudson where they’ll get a safe place to sleep and access to resources and case managers who can help them navigate next steps, but neighbors like Farley aren’t willing to leave and fear walking away from their homes could lead to homelessness.
“You know, we’re old,” she said. “What are we supposed to do?”
A handful of volunteers like Amy Fisher are doing what they can to get these homes livable again, but it’s not enough.
“There are ones here that aren’t touched yet, because I am only one person,” Fisher said.
The beyond-hopeless feeling at Gulf Breeze Mobile Home Park isn’t going anywhere unless more help arrives.
“If you or someone you know can help in the community, which is located at 7530 Bolton Avenue in Hudson, contact Fisher at 727-207-1345.
