The $1 million grant is part of a larger, more than $30 million mitigation project now underway in Shore Acres.<\/p>\n
PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 For more than a decade, Jason Nash\u2019s house in Shore Acres wasn\u2019t just a structure \u2014 it was where he built a life with his family. Since 2014, every birthday, holiday and memory happened within those walls.<\/p>\n
But today, what once felt like home is now gutted and empty.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Helene we had four foot of water in the house \u2014 this was the waterline,\u201d he said, pointing to the mark that now sits inches above his head.<\/p>\n
Nash\u2019s home has flooded three separate times. During the worst of it, he remembers watching his belongings drift across the rooms he once considered safe.<\/p>\n
\u201cRefrigerator floating, washer, dryer floating. We had tables floating. We had chest-high water in the house,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\nA neighborhood that knows flooding all too well <\/p>\n
Shore Acres is one of St. Petersburg\u2019s most flood-prone neighborhoods \u2014 a place where residents say they hold their breath every hurricane season, hoping their lives aren\u2019t washed out again.<\/p>\n
When Nash learned that St. Pete City Council approved another $1 million in flood mitigation funding this week, he didn\u2019t feel relief. He felt fear \u2014 that once again, the money isn\u2019t going where residents need it most.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s nothing you can do \u2014 whether it\u2019s a pump, a barrier, anything \u2014 to prevent Mother Nature. It\u2019s going to happen,\u201d Nash said.<\/p>\n
\nWhat the new funding will cover <\/p>\n
The newly approved funding is part of a much larger flood mitigation project now underway in Shore Acres. The investment includes:<\/p>\n
New box culvertsA stormwater pump stationBackflow preventersElevated roadway segments meant to improve water flow during storms <\/p>\n
The $1 million grant specifically goes toward purchasing a generator and electrical systems for a new emergency facility \u2014 equipment meant to keep the pumps operating during power outages.<\/p>\n
\nResidents say infrastructure isn\u2019t enough <\/p>\n
But for many who live here, the solution isn\u2019t just pumps \u2014 it\u2019s raising homes.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo stop devastation like this, raise elevation of homes,\u201d Nash said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s where we are after Helene, the prices skyrocketed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nash, like many of his neighbors, is trying to elevate his home. But he says he\u2019s still waiting for answers, waiting on funding help, waiting on timelines and waiting for clarity. In the meantime, his home remains a shell, frozen in the aftermath of the last hurricane season.<\/p>\n
\nGrowing frustration across Shore Acres <\/p>\n
Kevin Vatdorf, president of the Shore Acres Community Association, says he hears the same story over and over from residents who feel left behind.<\/p>\n
\u201cPumping structures is a patch for what\u2019s going on,\u201d Vatdorf said. \u201cThe infrastructure needs to be replaced, needs to be improved, needs to be elevated.\u201d<\/p>\n
For families like Nash\u2019s, the urgency is emotional as much as it is practical. Every storm season brings back the same fear \u2014 and the same uncertainty about whether their homes can survive what comes next.<\/p>\n
This $1 million grant is part of a larger, more than $30 million mitigation project now underway in Shore Acres.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The $1 million grant is part of a larger, more than $30 million mitigation project now underway in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":79969,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-79968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79968\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}