Ex-Long Islanders in Florida take stock of damage from hurricanes

Time — that’s what it will take for some former Long Islanders to recover after back-to-back Florida hurricanes forced them from their homes and ravaged much of the state. But for others, like former Rocky Point resident Barbara Sabella, 36, and her ailing grandfather in Port Richey, Florida, time is a precious commodity in short supply.

When Hurricane Helene hit in late September and sent water gushing into their home, Sabella said it was fresh off a heartbreaking prognosis. Only weeks earlier, doctors had given her grandfather, James Sabella Sr., 80, a maximum of five months to live and started him on in-home hospice care after his bladder cancer had spread, she said.

Barbara Sabella, who moved in with her grandfather in 2022, a year after his initial bladder cancer diagnosis, said they live in a community surrounded by canals near the Gulf of Mexico. The hurricane sent 4 feet of water and sewage into their home, making it uninhabitable. 

A second storm

Then, as the Sabellas were taking stock of the damage Helene left behind, Hurricane Milton hit last Wednesday.

The storm likely did additional damage to the home's roof, Barbara Sabella said. Her priority is to get the damaged home back in shape for her grandfather, who was staying with a friend Wednesday.

"He asks how far along I am and how much funds I have to work with and will it allow me to have it ready in the next few weeks," Sabella said. "I know he wants to come home but then he tells me it's fine ... but it's not fine and I am trying to have the house ready as fast as I can."

As of Tuesday, there were still about 170,000 customers without electricity because of Milton, some areas remained flooded and the state was still providing free gas to residents. The storm left at least 11 people dead, officials said.

It was the second hurricane to come up the Gulf of Mexico and make Florida landfall in less than two weeks. Hurricane Helene hit Sept. 26 and left 240 dead in Florida and other Southeastern states.

Helene blew out all Shannon Clark's window screens in her Bradenton, Florida, home and ripped out shrubs. Milton provided another wallop to Clark, 44, who moved from Lindenhurst to Bradenton 23 years ago.

Damage and delays

Together, she said, the hurricanes did more than $20,000 in damage to her home. The storms have also delayed care for her non-Hodgkin lymphoma, which is treatable, she said.

The delay in treatment means Clark, currently on medical leave, will have to push off returning to her job at Publix Super Markets, with money especially tight. Milton sent water into a back section of the house and knocked out her power for so long, she was forced to toss out her refrigerated food.

"The whole neighborhood is kind of just demolished," Clark said. "I'm grateful my house is still standing," she added.

Although electricity was restored Sunday night, Clark said she needs to wait for her next paycheck before buying food.

"I thought I was going to be able to go back to work like the second week of December, but it's not going to be until the new year now," Clark said, adding that she gets about a third of her paycheck while on medical leave. "So that's hurting a little bit right now." 

Other Long Island transplants fared better but continued to face other challenges, like gas shortages and flooding that left some roads impassible.

In New Port Richey, on Florida's Gulf Coast north of Tampa, Danielle Spraggins, 37, said that until Monday, the water was actively rising through the neighborhood. 

The hurricanes gave her flashbacks of Superstorm Sandy in 2012, which forced her out of her Long Island apartment. 

"I'm still shaken up about it" said Spraggins, 37, who moved to Florida in 2022. 

On Oct. 8, Spraggins said, she headed north after evacuating the area with her husband, her sons, her cat and her friend's family and baby. 

Unable to find a hotel, they slept one night in the car at a rest stop and the following day purchased airbeds from a Walmart and stayed at a shelter in Gainesville.

"They opened their community up to us with open arms," she said, adding the entire experience was frightening.

With AP