RUBONIA, Fla. — It happened fast, and at an extreme they’d never seen before.
Even though Hurricane Idalia dodged Tampa Bay, the powerful storm still brought a significant storm surge. It flooded coastal communities like Rubonia, a historically-Black community north of Palmetto in Manatee County.
“The water came in so quick and so high when they said evacuate, they couldn’t evacuate,” said Luther Wilkins, the Manatee County NAACP president. “If you see some of the pictures I got — I got pictures of senior citizens standing in water knee-deep.”
Nearly a month has passed, but Idalia is still top of mind for many there. The water’s gone, but the damage it caused is still there, which is creating a hopeless situation in a largely elderly community where some live in poverty and others are uninsured.
Tarnisha Cliatt, the president of Manasota’s Black Chamber of Commerce, hasn’t been happy with the response but is relieved that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) now has a presence in the community. FEMA arrived there Saturday to provide one-on-one help.
“We are so late to get the help and the resources to the people that need it,” Cliatt said.
Monday, she was part of a community walk-through of Rubonia. She and other community leaders toured the damage and made the pitch for even more help.
“They need tangible dollars. They need tangible materials. They need to have the resources to lead them to resiliency and recovery,” she said.
She said the area also needs volunteers willing to rip out drywall and perform other talks to help repair the dozens of homes that flooded.
