DUNEDIN, Fla. — Many who live in Westwind Mobile Home Park near Dunedin are still being hit with a vortex of stress, anguish, and anxiety almost seven months after Hurricane Helene.
Cyndi Varney knows that firsthand.
“We don’t sleep well at all anymore— not since we got the letter,” she said.
In March, she received a letter with consequences: a substantial damage letter from Pinellas County. Because of a FEMA rule for special flood hazard areas, Varney and her husband, Rod, will have to elevate, relocate, or abandon their home unless they can prove it isn’t substantially damaged.
Hundreds more across Pinellas County face the same dilemma.
“A lot of these people are elderly,” said Norma Scheele, who also lives at Westwind and was also facing a substantial damage determination recently. “They have no place else to go.”
Monday, Pinellas County provided some relief.
The county moved the compliance deadline from June 1, 2025, to June 1, 2026, which means homeowners now have more than a year to either comply, show they are trying to comply or work their reassessment case.
This extension allows homeowners to remain in their homes while working toward compliance.
“However, it does not permit homeowners to undertake improvements beyond minor repairs necessary for safety and habitability,” a Pinellas County spokesperson clarified. “Homeowners are expected to demonstrate progress toward compliance during this period.”
The county spokesperson said the extension would also give people more time to potentially receive financial relief, which would come from the $813 million grant the county received from the federal government earlier this year. The county is currently drawing up a plan to spend that money to best help storm victims.
“What can we get help with?” Rod Varney said. “You know, it’s out of pocket.”
The Varneys are skeptical that the deadline extension will ultimately help them. If anything, they believe it delays the inevitable: the decision they might have to make to abandon their home, which they say was declared substantially damaged even though the inside did not flood during Hurricane Helene.
“This is the location that we chose to be in and we invested in all these years,” Cyndi said.
For now, the stress, anguish, and anxiety aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.
The May 31, 2025, deadline to file for a reassessment of a substantial damage determination has not changed.
According to the county, in the event of a named storm this upcoming hurricane season, people living in homes with a substantial damage determination and temporary occupancy permits must follow the same evacuation orders as other residents.
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