AccuWeather's Leslie Hudson reports that despite the destruction from Helene, officials, including Treasure Island Mayor Tyler Payne, are determined to rebuild. The community remains hopeful.
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00:00Julie Diaz is on a mission.
00:02She walked eight miles from her home in Treasure Island to St. Pete on the mainland
00:07to pick up what few cleaning supplies she could carry on foot.
00:11The trip took nearly four hours under a sweltering sun.
00:14Hurricane Helene sent a nearly seven-foot storm surge
00:18throughout the Barrier Islands in western central Florida.
00:21When we looked out the front door and the water started rising
00:24because the intercoastal is over here as well.
00:27Officials say this area has never seen a surge of water this high in over 102 years.
00:33We are in such unique circumstances out here that they have to treat us differently.
00:39So that's why they're bringing this very advanced mobile command center out to the beaches.
00:44Drone video shows the scope of Helene's impact.
00:47Roads have turned into a sea of sand dunes,
00:49making most of the transportation in and out of this area impossible.
00:54Sunset Beach is considered one of the hardest hit of these popular Barrier Islands.
00:59It's, you know, not just my house, it's the whole entire island as a whole.
01:03It's everyone's home that has, you know, any living space on the first floor.
01:08Everybody's in the same boat.
01:09In Pinellas County alone, there's at least 19,000 homes
01:13that are heavily damaged or had significant impacts from Helene's storm surge.
01:18But the mayor is determined to spread hope across his hurricane-tattered community
01:23in the coming weeks and months.
01:25My heart is broken for our community.
01:29We'll get through this together and we will rebuild the city.
01:33For AccuWeather, I'm Leslie Hudson reporting.