Beaches and business cleanup in Treasure Island, Clearwater Beach, and Madeira Beach | Mary O'Connell
People up and down Pinellas County’s coastal communities are working hard to pick up the pieces after Hurricane Idalia.
Residents in Madeira Beach saw floodwaters come into their homes and spent Thursday cleaning. Jake Eckelberry, who lives in Madeira Beach, opened his door and had water pour out.
"Fridge and oven so far. Couch is ruined. About four inches of water inside the house, so the dry wall's toast,” said Eckelberry. "It is what it is. It's Florida. Perks of living on the beach, I guess."
Up and down Gulf Boulevard, crews cleared sand and debris from the storm. At Caddy’s on Treasure Island, staff shoveled mounds of sand from cabanas.
“We’re cutting this tree down that came from who knows where. We’re taking all of the debris out and throwing it away. We have pieces of docks. We have just a bunch of wood everywhere,” said Randy Esponda, managing partner of Sunpubs. “And then after that, we’re going to have to get some machinery out here on the beach to rake all the sand out because it’s all piled up right against the building.”
Just down the road at John’s Pass, owners also dealt with a sand overload while mopping up water in and around their businesses. Still, they’re thankful, knowing it could’ve been much worse.
"It's hard to be negative. It's hard to be super down about it because we're super blessed compared to our friends to the north,” said Dylan Hubbard, owner of Hubbard’s Marina.
Gulfport businesses continue to clean up and work together | Robert Boyd
Businesses in Gulfport are breathing a sigh of relief. Some of them did receive flood damage, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as hurricanes of the past. They say it’s a combination of luck and preparation.
From H-VAC machines to TECO employees to heavy-duty machinery, everywhere you looked, cleanup continued in Gulfport Thursday.
“The biggest thing is took on about 18 inches of water inside; we lost an AC unit and some compressors, but overall, not too bad; we survived, we are cleaning up and getting ready for the next one,” said Tom George, owner of Hurricane Eddie’s.
While Hurricane Eddie’s swept out the last of the water, O’Maddy’s was already back serving lunch next door. They say it wasn’t as bad as Hurricane Eta, and they credit the city for coming up with ways to mitigate the flood damage.
“The city spent just a ton over here on renovations of the beachfront, and that wall that runs across Shore Blvd. that was recently done has significantly helped to stop the waves from hitting the building,” said owner Joseph Guenther.
Over at Zaiya, cleanup is a community effort; neighbors, friends, family, and loyal customers are all pitching in.
“It's very humbling. I get verklempt when I talk about Gulfport,” said owner Jill Rice.
“It feels really good that friends and family want to come out and help, and we had a couple of people asking if there is anything they can do, and we definitely found some things for them to do,” said owner MJ Hodges.
It’s been a year of monumental moments for Tom and Larisa Lussiano, owners of Tommy’s Hideaway; they married, opened a business, and took on their first hurricane all in 2023.
“We weren’t sure what to expect,” said Larisa.
“We leaned on some of our vendor partners to kind of guide us through. To be open a day later is unbelievable,” said Tom.
All these businesses plan to be fully operational on Labor Day weekend.
