PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — Back in October, tornadoes ripped through Dunedin.
It surprised many, including local business owners who are still cleaning up.
Cindy Haynes works at The Gym in Dunedin and said since tornadoes damaged her building last October, it's been difficult to recover.
"It has hurt our business a little bit for sure," said Haynes.
The Gym in the Dunedin Causeway Plaza is one of several businesses the storms damaged.
Many businesses in the plaza suffered damaged roofs, broken windows, and broken AC units.
Many of the businesses are still boarded up, and owners say customers think they are closed when they drive by.
"Even to this day, we still have coming in and calling and saying, oh, I didn't even know you were open," said Haynes.
It's something owner of the Happy Cactus Mexican Cocina, Alma Hernandez, is experiencing too.
"We have been doing okay…not as good as we should. Definitely took an impact. A lot of people see the plaza like this and they think we are closed," said Hernandez.
Her restaurant's AC unit was damaged in the storm.
"They haven't been back because maybe last time they were here it was getting to hot around may, but a lot of people don't know that we already added a mini-split like a little AC unit. It has helped us a lot," said Hernandez.
Business owners say they are waiting for insurance claims to go through, but in the meantime, hope they can receive enough support to stay open this Summer.
"Everybody, they have to a make living, they have families, they have bills," said Haynes.
"Anything helps, anything helps to help everyone in the plaza stay open," said Hernandez.
A South Tampa man turned to Susan Solves It after he said ADT told him he had to keep paying for a security system at his Hurricane Helene-damaged home, even though the system was so new that he never had a day of service.
