Hundreds Saved In Pinellas County During 60 Hurricane Rescue Missions

PINELLAS COUNTY, FL — Pinellas County residents who evacuated during Hurricane Idalia are returning home Thursday to find up to 2 feet of flooding in their homes, downed trees and other wind damage and power outages, said Cathie Perkins, director of emergency management in a Thursday morning news conference.

"This flooding was worse than what we saw for Hurricane Ida (2021) a few years ago," she said. "The danger of storm surge overnight followed by high tides Wednesday afternoon inundated hundreds of homes and prompted over 60 water rescue missions of people trapped in flooded homes within the evacuation zone and on the barrier islands."

Nevertheless, she said Pinellas County weathered the storm better than those living in the Big Bend area of Florida.

"We are very glad that we were spared a direct hit, and we send our thoughts and prayers to those in the Big Bend area who were directly impacted," she said.

On Thursday, an army of government assessors are scouring Pinellas County to determine how much damage the county sustained.

"We're still out there trying to get a better outlook of damages," she said. "We have teams out there on the streets from emergency management, flood plain management, the head of our damage assessment unit, we've got the Federal Emergency Management Agency and representatives from the state Division of Emergency Management, all getting a better understanding of what has been impacted in our areas."

Perkins said nearly 1,700 residents sought shelter at one of the 10 county hurricane shelters Wednesday in anticipation of Hurricane Idalia's arrival, including 187 people with special needs and about 70 pets.

"We moved anybody who could not return to their homes to the Lealman Exchange and the Palm Harbor Community Center, and served about 30 people in our community centers who were not able to return to their homes last night," she said.

Additionally, search-and-rescue teams rescued hundreds of people from flooded areas during about 60 missions, she said.

"We'll update those numbers as we get more information," Perkins said.

She said there have been no reported injuries but fire rescue crews received calls about three house fires during the storm. In one case, she said the road were too flooded to allow firefighters to access and put out the fire at one house.

"Thank goodness, the residents had evacuated and no one was home," she said.

From Tuesday night to Wednesday afternoon, the Pinellas County 911 center received more than 800 emergency calls and the county's call center handled more than 8,000 calls and live chats from residents.

The Sunset Beach neighborhood of Treasure Island was among the hardest hit areas in that city.

Treasure Island Police Chief John Barkley is asking people not to visit the island to sightsee. All beach parking lots on Sunset Beach are closed and Treasure Island police will be pulling drivers over to make sure they either live in the area or have business there.

"If you have no business there, TIPD will ask you to leave," Barkley said.

As Hurricane Idalia headed up the Gulf Coast Wednesday night, producing tropical storm-force winds in Pinellas County, Perkins said 28,000 Pinellas County residents lost power.

On Thursday morning, Perkins said Duke Energy told her that there are still 2,600 people without power.

"They've had thousands of crews working to restore power, including crews from out of state, and we thank them for their efforts," she said.

Additionally, the Florida Department of Transportation has helped remove 80 to 90 dump trucks full of sand that was pushed onto roads by the storm surge and tides.