What Debby Looked Like to Us

Debby was a rude guest. She visited Florida, dumped enough water in Pasco to flood parts of the western side of the county and then left a mess for us to pick up.

Over the course of Debby's visit last week, we took shome shots of the impact she had on our community. We also had a number of people upload photos of the damage to our area. We decided to craft a photo gallery of the shots that best showed Debby's impact on our area.

If you have photos you'd like to add, upload them here.

Patty Reeves, a Hudson resident, offered up some words of wisdom on the Facebook page Debby did Florida (but we'll recover) for those impacted by the storm.

Flooding: Reading the local news, seeing the images, reminds me of the No Name Storm in 1993 when I woke up to the sound of water lapping up against the house and 4 feet of water in the Florida room and furniture floating. We lost appliances and precious family photos, furniture and so much more. My heart goes out to those who are perhaps feeling blindsided, numb, and others devistated. What I hope they know: It's all just stuff; Your life and that of friends and loved ones is precious and that's the stuff that really counts. 10 years from now you will remember this time and mark it as a moment you learned something about yourself and your community. People truly do care in times like these. Thankful many lives were spared, thankful for warm weather rather than cold wet days so the sun dries the land and draws up the water quickly. It gets better. Out of ashes, Phoenix rises.

Recovery continues

Sherry Stamback Turansky, a New Port Richey resident, tracked Debby's impact on our area via her Debby did Florida Facebook group and is keeping folks abreast of repair and recovery there. She is also heading up Newportrichey.recovers.org, which is the local page of an online platform that provides information in the wake of disaster and connects volunteers and donors.

The Anclote River, which is usually between 6 and 10 feet high, peaked at 27.4 feet on Tuesday. It's now at 14.76 feet, below food level but still higher than normal, according to the county.

Pasco County is continuing to assess damage from Debby with the state and expects to have finalized numbers as early as Monday, July 9. In the meantime, log damage at pascocountyfl.net.

Storm debris pickup won't start until after July 4.

"Residents are requested to take their storm related debris to the curbside and separate the construction debris and white goods (for example, refrigerators) from normal household garbage," a county media release said.