Home Care In Hudson, FL

HUDSON, Fla. – As Hurricane Idalia passed over Hudson, a community of about 13,000 people, located on Florida’s west coast about 40 miles north of St. Petersburg, some residents who decided to weather the storm say they regretted the decision.

Local 10 News crews at the scene said the water seemed to be receding in the city of Hudson, however, a mile away, the lower-lying areas closer to the Gulf at Hudson Beach were impassable.

Water rescues in Hudson were the most prevalent as many people didn’t heed mandatory evacuation orders, according to Pasco County Fire Rescue.

Rescue crews could be seen coming and going using small boats that were full of life jackets going through the flood waters and even going door to door to get people out of homes.

Those who stayed told Local 10 News that it was Wednesday morning when they realized they couldn’t stay in their houses, mostly because of flooding.

One resident said that he had never seen anything like it. “Before I knew it, it was over the wall.”

Margaret Chimenti said: “We’ve had a hurricane here, but it’s never flooded to this extent,” she said.

Kimberly Bernhardt said everything looked fine early in the morning.

“I got up around 6 a.m. It seemed okay because I didn’t have any water in the house and then I opened my door and it was right there. My friends were like, ‘This is low tide, but it’s only going to get worse.’ "

She needed to be rescued.

That water is creeping further and further east. This is about a mile away from the Gulf in Hudson and it reached our car in about 20 minutes … had to move back. @WPLGLocal10 pic.twitter.com/82xEZS3wGg

— Andrew Perez (@AndrewPerezWPLG) August 30, 2023

Capt. Andrew Breuer of Pasco County Fire Rescue said his crews started around 11 p.m. Tuesday.

“And we’ve been up all night,” he said.

Most of the calls, Breuer said, began around 6 a.m. Wednesday when the water began to rise.

“We brought in some high-water vehicles for rescues. We’ve rescued some elderly people all the way to a 10-day-old baby and pulling out as many people as we can,” he said.

Breuer sent this message to anyone in a hurricane situation.

“People need to listen to warnings ahead of time.”

DEVELOPING: Water rescues underway in Hudson. For reference, we started our morning at the end of this street (still a mile from the gulf) and the water continues to push everyone back. There are several big neighborhoods West of us. @WPLGLocal10 pic.twitter.com/ejTfm0uOHw

— Andrew Perez (@AndrewPerezWPLG) August 30, 2023

Copyright 2023 by WPLG Local10.com - All rights reserved.

PASCO COUNTY, Fla. - Residents along the Gulf Coast in Hudson are cleaning up after being inundated with at least five feet of storm surge from Hurricane Idalia.

"Don't underestimate [mother nature]," said homeowner Susan Moorhouse. "You're not going to win."

Sea Ranch Drive is perpendicular to the Gulf's shoreline, and it was under five feet of water as Idalia passed by on the coast before smacking into Florida's Big Bend.

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"There's not really words for it," said Moorhouse. "It was nice to see afterward, everybody helping everybody, but just the amount of water was a lot. It was kind of insane."

Officials with Pasco County Emergency Management had estimated for 6,000 homes to be damaged, but they say that number wound up being closer to 2,000. Several dozen residents were displaced.

"A majority of our roads are open," Pasco County Emergency Management Director Andrew Fossa said. "We have a few that are still closed. I still have standing water on them, but that's a freshwater saltwater mix. So those lakes are still not receding back into their banks yet."

Fossa says 150 people were rescued from homes who were trapped by water.

MORE: Idalia's wrath continues across Southeast with flooding in Charleston following historic Florida landfall

"We put out evacuation orders for a reason," he said. "Citizens become very complacent. They think they can ride the storm out. We were fortunate again, we had in it didn't hit us."

Residents like Anthony Fisher rode out the storm in homes that were set high off the ground. He spent Wednesday morning helping neighbors assess their own damage.

"Don't hesitate," he said. "Listen to your authorities. If they say evacuate, evacuate because life is not one thing you cannot replace."

The Pasco County Sheriff's Office is urging people here who need to hire contractors for their cleanup to get everything in writing and make sure no one ever rushes you to sign a contract.

HUDSON, Fla. — A new source of help has arrived for families in Pasco County. The Hudson Community Health and Resource Center opened its doors last month on the Hudson High campus.

What You Need To Know

Currently, the new facility is offering free medical, mental health and dental services to Pasco County students. Medical services are free for students but not available to the community at this time. Those services will be made available to residents in the future.

In addition, the center also has a food and clothing bank which has helped more than 70 families in the area already. And more help is on the way this holiday season.

“We have 1,000 families that we’re providing food for and we’ve maxed out the Christmas sign-up already and we are getting close to maxing out the Thanksgiving sign-up,” said Mark Clairmont, district liaison for the Hudson Community Health and Resource Center. “So that’s over almost 1,100 families we’ve helped through food donations alone.”

Those meals are being provided through Metropolitan Ministries, just one of the many organizations the new resource center is in partnership with. It’s these partnerships that are making it possible to offer help.

“Giving shoes to the families, but we are also signing people up for the holidays — for Thanksgiving and for Christmas.”

In the back of an SUV, Nicole Webb with Metropolitan Ministries is hard at work, handing out pairs of shoes to Hudson families in need.

“We’re just trying to help,” says Webb, a community navigator with Metropolitan Ministries. “That’s part of what we do is alleviate suffering and just getting people connected to resources, whatever that may be. It could be housing, food insecurity or back-to-school supplies.”

Doing what they do is being made a little more convenient thanks to a partnership with Pasco County Schools. They’re able to offer their services outside the new Hudson Community Health and Resource Center.

“We come to the specific location and zip codes 34669 and 34610, which is right here, and we help with financial assistance — whether it’s mortgage, rental, utilities or sometimes people just need resources outside of us and we connect them with those.”

And happening inside is a food and clothing bank offering help to locals.

“The cost of living nowadays and living paycheck to paycheck sometimes, I feel like it’s a good resource, and it helps keep food on the table,” says Kelly St. Pierre, who lives in Hudson. “Especially with a little one at home.”

Partnerships with local organizations make it all possible. But they’re not quite finished yet. Future plans are on the table with more resources — like free medical services — on the way.

“I’ve been coming here about a month or so,” said St. Pierre. “I feel like every time I come in there’s a bunch of different options than there were last time, so I feel like there’s a lot of selections every time you come here.”

And with each distribution comes a special feeling for everyone involved.

“To see the kids, or even the adults, getting a new pair of shoes is nice because you see that reflection of how you feel,” says Webb. “It’s nice we’re able to provide that for these families, whether it be the adults or the children that are in need of the shoes so it’s definitely really nice to experience.”

It’s an experience that will only grow stronger with each partnership that’s made.

HUDSON, Fla. — Kate Mullin and her neighbors on Sanderling Lane in Hudson say they feel like they live on a forgotten street.

What You Need To Know

In late August, Hurricane Idalia battered the Big Bend area of Florida, making landfall in Keaton Beach as a Category 3 storm. For many in Tampa Bay, the story of Idalia was a "near-miss" storm that presented a day’s worth of hassles that quickly dissipated.

In short: Tampa Bay dodged the proverbial bullet.

But Mullin says, “We did not dodge. We took it.”

Mullin and her neighbors live near the coast in Pasco County. Their backyards include boat docks, nestled on creeks that lead out to the Gulf of Mexico. During Idalia, everyone on Mullin’s street saw water from those creeks come pouring into their houses.

“There was just this perfect storm of water being pushed in from the hurricane and everyone got hit pretty bad,” Mullin said.

Mullin’s house provides a good example of the damage. It’s gutted. Crews have ripped out the drywall 4 feet up, needing to replace the portions of the house that flooded. All that’s left is the framing.

“It looks like a skeleton,” Mullin said. “It’s heartbreaking.”

It's a similar situation next door at Kristina McAlavanah’s house.

“It feels like I’m building a brand, new house. It’s been really rough,” McAlvanah said.

McAlvanah and her fiancé moved everything they could salvage from flooding to the middle of each room. But they threw away so much, tossing furniture, clothes and pictures. It was the photos that tore McAlvanah apart, knowing they couldn’t be replaced.

“You don’t think they’re important because they sit in a box. But then you don’t have them and it’s a whole different deal,” McAlvanah said.

It'll be weeks — maybe months — before most of these houses are livable again. Both Mullin and McAlvanah admitted to feeling overwhelmed by the damage, but also feeling overlooked — specifically by Pasco County. They felt county leaders could have done more to help them.

In response to an inquiry from Spectrum Bay News 9, Pasco County officials listed a dozen different things county leaders had done to help residents after Idalia.

They included picking up debris, providing "flood buckets" (buckets of cleaning supplies) and waiving tipping fees for those that brought debris to solid waste facilities.

They added that most of their work was focused on Hudson, as it was the county’s largest-impacted area. They’re planning to enhance the Disaster Resource Center at the Fasano Regional Hurricane Shelter.

Florida is looking to the transfer portal to fill its remaining roster vacancies ahead of the 2023 season.

With five scholarship spots available when the spring portal period closed on April 30, the Gators began to selectively host visitors in May and have pulled in two commitments along the way.

Having previously detailed Michigan safety transfer R.J. Moten's fit in Florida's defensive back rotation, All Gators will cover Florida International transfer Lyndell Hudson Jr.'s projected role on UF's offensive line next.

Hudson is Florida's fourth offensive line transfer acquisition of the offseason, following former Baylor guard Micah Mazzccua, Alabama offensive tackle Damieon George Jr. and Kentucky offensive tackle Kiyaunta Goodwin.

With Freshman All-American Austin Barber locked into one of Florida's two first-team tackle positions, one of George, Goodwin and Hudson will align on the opposite side. Barber spent UF's entire spring training camp at left tackle, suggesting the competition to start will be held at right tackle.

Florida values positional versatility on the offensive line, however, which could allow the unit's assistant coaches Rob Sale and Darnell Stapleton to move players around the front five as they please. If there is a logjam of capable linemen at tackle, one of those contributors could reasonably move inside to play guard.

Of the three contestants at right tackle, though, Hudson provides the most collegiate playing experience with 1,564 offensive snaps to his name, per Pro Football Focus. George was on the field for 320 snaps across three seasons at Alabama, and Goodwin earned just five snaps as a freshman at Kentucky.

Upon joining the team, Hudson will be the second-most seasoned member of Florida's offensive line. Only center Kingsley Eguakun has logged more offensive snaps in his career, with 1,747.

Although his regular competition level wasn't considered as daunting as that of an SEC program, Hudson displayed enough promise across his four seasons of playing time to suggest he could handle a jump to the Power 5.

RELATED: Lyndell Hudson Jr. talks transfer to Florida: "Time for me to bet on myself"

In his lone start against a Power 5 team, versus Texas Tech in 2021, Hudson did not allow a sack and gave up only one quarterback pressure across 26 pass-blocking reps. He also did not allow a sack in three consecutive starts against Western Kentucky, matching up against eventual third-round NFL Draft selections Brodric Martin (2023) and DeAngelo Malone (2022) of the Hilltoppers' defensive line in those games.

Across 878 pass-blocking snaps in his career, Hudson has allowed just five sacks and given up 43 quarterback pressures (one every 20 snaps). His single-season run-blocking grade peaked in 2020 with an 82.3 mark out of 100 on PFF's scale, which is considered "high quality." His respective run-blocking scores of 62.9 and 60.6 in 2021 and 2022 are considered "average."

Hudson's 2022 season was affected by a nagging back injury that hindered his ability to play at full strength. After starting for three years in a row, Hudson came off the bench to play in four games due to the Panthers' lacking offensive line depth and was sidelined fully for another two.

Yet, Hudson did not allow a sack across his 247 pass-blocking snaps on the year.

Ample experience and encouraging stats aren't mentioned to suggest Hudson's transition from Conference USA to the SEC will be easy or even a guaranteed success, much like any player making a similar jump.

However, Hudson was one of the few consistent bright spots on a Florida International team that compiled an 11-31 record during his time as a starter. It is fair to presume Hudson could perform well against a strengthened schedule of opponents with an improved supporting cast around him, and Florida offered him that opportunity given its need to continue retooling its offensive line.

There will be four new starters on Florida's 2023 offensive line, after left tackle Richard Gouraige and right guard O'Cyrus Torrence departed for the NFL while left guard Ethan White and right tackle Michael Tarquin entered the transfer portal in December 2022.

Hudson has a chance to occupy one of those spots. If he doesn't, he will likely provide valuable depth in a swing tackle role — similar to Barber in 2022 — for the Gators in his final season of college eligibility.

Stay tuned to All Gators for continuous coverage of Florida Gators football, basketball and recruiting. Follow along on social media at @AllGatorsOnFN on Twitter and All Gators on FanNation-Sports Illustrated on Facebook.

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