SARASOTA, Fla — After nearly a week of high water blocking access to the homes in Laurel Meadows, Friday marks a new day for many.
Although still flooded, most of the water inside the homes have gone.
Like so many of their neighbors, the Gregory family returned home to survey the damage caused by Debby.
"I feel terrible. I just was crying like I just, I don't know where to begin," said Kim Gregory. "All my beautiful furniture, all the things that you know, we take time to pick out and put together and spend money on— all gone."
The last time Kim Gregory saw the inside of her house, she had to kayak right into her living room.
"I floated in here, literally on a kayak and couldn't get out. I just caved over and cried my eyes out," she said.
Thankfully, Friday's return didn't require a kayak.
But she did return to an unrecognizable version of her dream home.
"I loved this bedroom, and I miss it so much. There's so much space. We have two big closets, a nice bathroom, walk in shower. This was our dream home," she said, showing us around what's left of her bedroom.
Every room took on water. Kim recalls openings cabinets and having water rush out. Water lines are now staining their walls and furniture inside the house and at their pool.
"I literally just put that patio in in February, and I had it decorated beautifully with gorgeous plants and furniture. I spent a lot of money on back in April. And now it's just filled with poop water."
Their cars are also gone. The Corolla parked out front may look fine now, but at one point, it was all but completely submerged in flood water.
Even baby pictures are ruined.
"We did lose all our baby photos from when me and Greg (her husband) were little. So that was hard. That was really hard. I like to reflect back to those, especially now that I have a granddaughter, and I like to see where I was at, where my daughter is at."
The Gregory's are concerned about the future and for good reason.
"We need financial assistance from the government, FEMA, wherever. I personally, and I know a lot of my neighbors, feel as though that if the news stops reporting it, they're going to forget us, and we're not going to get the help we need. And we need that help," she said.
We took her concern to State Representative James Buchanan.
"I want to thank the individual that brought the question to you, because that's, that's a question that's on so many people's mind here today and will be in the future as well," he said. "I've been very in close contact with our local governmental counterparts, in addition to the state level counterparts. Yes, obviously we've got to get to the bottom of exactly what happened and address that. But first thing, we need to make sure people have a place to go and they're able to get back on their feet."
We talked more about the big concern from this neighborhood: that this is not a flood zone; despite the massive amount of standing water. Water still remains in Laurel Meadows almost a week later.
Representative Buchanan says he's working on getting a uniform flood data point statewide.
"What we need, and I've been working on this for a number of years, is consistent data points across the entire state in terms of not just those low lying areas like we may see on an elevation survey or a FEMA map of where these low lying areas are, but know also how the water is flowing across a basin and across our state, and have that interlinked, not just within, you know, local jurisdictions, but also statewide and connected."
Representative Buchanan believes that's one piece of the pie to alleviate issues like what the Laurel Meadows neighborhood is dealing with.
"So we can have an educated decision, make decisions around how the water is moving, and also having this data will also allow local governments to make those important decisions around those communities that are most vulnerable and how to protect those. It could also inform development decisions in certain areas. So this is something that's the statutory framework is already in place. It's just beginning to get implemented through some of these vulnerability flooding assessments that local governments have started to do. And it's one of those things in an instance like our community, we've got to get to the bottom of, though, what occurred in terms of if there was any failures on any level, and give people a peace of mind, because that's important," he added.
But for the people like the Gregorys who need help right this instant, here's what Buchanan had to say.
"Have her reach out to our office at 941-429-4560."
On Friday, Governor Ron DeSantis issued an update on the state's response to Hurricane Debby, which included Activate Hope.
Activate Hope connects Floridians with resources to provide food, household goods, home repairs, etc. Anyone looking for help through Activate Hope can fill out this form.
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