Florida cleaning up; new tropical threat looms for Sunshine State

AccuWeather

AccuWeather Correspondent Leslie Hudson is in Treasure Island, Florida, where cleanup and recovery efforts continue as the state now braces for another threat brewing in the tropics.

Transcript

00:00We've been talking about all week is looming in for Florida.

00:04So we want to bring in our accurate correspondent, Leslie Hudson, who has the latest.

00:08I see some big excavators behind you.

00:09I'm sure there is a lot of construction equipment trying to make and clear some of this debris.

00:16Yeah, Ari, exactly right.

00:20So we actually found that staging area that we were telling you about.

00:23So we're at the Treasure Island Community Center.

00:26And obviously over my shoulder here is a ton of debris.

00:29All the debris on this entire island is going to wind up in this park at some point in the

00:35coming days.

00:36So they're going to take those 60,000 dump trucks that we talked about and start to pile

00:40some of that stuff over here.

00:41It's going to be a mountain of debris by the time they're done.

00:44As you can see, they're already trying to, they just started today to lay some of that

00:48debris in this area.

00:50And it will continue to pile up throughout the day today.

00:53And we're told that by October 7th, FEMA should get involved and help get some of this

00:59cleanup going.

01:00But I also wanted to point out for folks that are displaced right now, you can see there's

01:04a gentleman right there.

01:05They have several of these portable relief centers where people can come and take a shower.

01:12They can have a clean bathroom.

01:14There are still many people here in the Barrier Islands, here in Western Central Florida that

01:19are without their homes.

01:20They can't live in them, especially if they're single dwellings.

01:23Those are where most of the damage was.

01:25So we're going to walk over here because something else that's really cool that's going on is

01:29that there's also the Florida National Guard and probably the National Guard's office also

01:34over here too.

01:35They have a drive-through here for folks where you can pick up an MRE and they don't know

01:41we're coming over here.

01:42Hopefully they're okay with this.

01:44So you just drive up and here comes a resident right now and they can pick up their MREs

01:49and they can head back to their house and get some food.

01:52So it's just a really well-run machine here.

01:55We've seen a couple of cars.

01:56It's still kind of early maybe for some folks.

01:59Folks are tired here.

02:00They haven't had power for over a week.

02:02They are getting blocks of power re-established here in Treasure Island where we are and along

02:08the Barrier Islands.

02:09But again, this is really the hardest hit of this Western Central Florida, very popular

02:14tourist destination.

02:15Millions of people come here every year.

02:18And as a Floridian, I can tell you, we actually get an uptick in tourists this time of the

02:23year.

02:24So the fall and the winter is when we really get busy here in Florida.

02:27And I've talked to several people that live here that are really hoping that this cleanup

02:31happens sooner than later so they can get that tourist dollar back into this area where

02:36they need it.

02:37They are definitely still in recovery mode here, but it's nice to see that they're already

02:40so well-organized and trying to get all this debris, by the way, which they're concerned

02:45about what's going to happen next week with all that rain.

02:48Where will it go?

02:49Will it float away?

02:50Will it become projectile if there's any wind?

02:52So there's concern about that as well to try and get as much of that taken care of before

02:57those heavy rains start.

02:59For now, we're reporting live in Treasure Island.

03:01I'm Leslie Hudson.

03:02Back to you.

03:03Leslie, one quick question.

03:05Have officials communicated to you when they think all of the power is restored to the

03:12community?

03:14So, there's about 40,000 people, last time I checked, which was last night, that are

03:21still without power.

03:23I know here in the barrier islands where it's the worst, they're telling folks that they're

03:27hoping by Monday, most of this coming Monday, most of these people will have power.

03:32But there's some very secluded areas.

03:34We're going to try to get to Sunset Beach this morning so you guys can see it.

03:39That's still very fragile.

03:41The crews, there's no power, no running water, nothing in Sunset Beach, which is here on

03:46Treasure Island.

03:47So those areas might take a little longer, but I think they're trying to get the majority

03:51of the people here up and running by Monday.

03:53At least that was the last report that we heard.

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