TARPON SPRINGS, Fla. — In Tarpon Springs, the history, hard work, and heart that family businesses and sponge divers pour into the Greek community make the Sponge Docks the special place it is.
“We dodged a bullet again,” Bill Gresko, who began sponge diving 35 years ago, told ABC Action News.
Gresko and his friend, fellow sponge diver Muhip Goktepe, braced for Hurricane Idalia.
“We’re all freaking out beforehand because if Steinhatchee was here or Fort Myers was here, we’d all have lost our boats. And that’s our livelihood,” Gresko said.
“It’s scary, you know? It’s not good. But we’re okay,” Goktepe said.
Still, Gresko feels for the local family businesses, who spent Thursday cleaning up and salvaging what they could.
“I just feel for sorry for everybody that got flooded out,” he said.
Sunset Hills Elementary School secretary and her family loses belongings in Hurricane Idalia
Though street flooding is common on the Sponge Docks, with some areas flooded on Thursday from the daily high tide and rain alone, Emmanual Psomas told ABC Action News at Hellas Restaurant & Bakery, “It never gets inside.”
That changed with the storm surge from Hurricane Idalia. This was different.
Psomas is the General Manager at Hellas, a Tarpon favorite.
“The last time we flooded was the No Name Storm,” Psomas said. “This one had a name.”
From the No Name Storm in 1993 to Idalia in 2023 — both will be remembered.
PHOTOS: HURRICANE IDALIA IMPACT ON FLORIDA
“The sandbags were just submerged,” Psomas said, describing the impact of Hurricane Idalia.
Around 7:00 Wednesday morning, he said he walked through the water to look at the restaurant.
“It was just under my waist,” Psomas said of the storm surge.
Hellas plans to reopen on Friday.
At Katherine’s Linens & Gifts on the Sponge Docks, employee Debbie Thompson said there was four feet of water.
“It came up over,” Thompson said of the water. “It should have never come over the cash register area.”
It did.
ABC Action News spoke with Brent Barkway of Pinellas County Economic Development between his visits with businesses on the Sponge Docks.
“We’re just out talking to local businesses to see what kind of damage they incurred and let them know that we’re going to be submitting a report to the Governor’s office in hopes of possibly getting some state and federal funds available to help people in the area,” Barkway said.
“This is a family,” Thompson said. “Everything is tied into the business. If they can’t get it open, it’s like anybody else, they lose money.”
On Thursday, desperate to help clean up and prevent more damage, she stood outside of the family business, begging cars to slow down as they drove through fresh flooding from the high tide and more rain.
“They’re like my family. And I will fight tooth and nail to get it back,” Thompson said of the business, wiping away tears.
As of Friday, not all stores and restaurants have reopened. Please call ahead to check.
Visit FloridaDisaster.biz, a partnership between the Florida Department of Commerce and the Florida Division of Emergency Management, to complete a Business Damage Assessment Survey.
