It’s being considered a punch in the gut. Neighbors were almost finished recovering from Hurricane Ian when Hurricane Helene rolled by the coast.

Multiple homes have been destroyed, including many of the Blind Pass Condominiums’ first-floor units.

Now, they have to start all over again. Contractors and disaster relief volunteers have been hard at work. On Monday, they lined the street. The first-floor units at the complex received three to 10 inches of water inside. We spoke to Tom Henecker, the rental manager at Blind Pass Condominiums, who told us they feel defeated. The only good thing about having to go through this for a second time is they now know what to do, so once again, they are demolishing their units, ripping out flooring, rugs, drywall and baseboards, and then the owners will have to start from scratch again.

 

“It’s heartbreaking, and I feel bad for the owners,” Henecker said. “Just starting to pick ourselves up here. We just started getting rentals back on the second floor units. We had three in our first floor units that we’re actually renting. We have reservations for this weekend for some of them, and now we’re kind of starting over.”

The rental manager told us one woman had to be rescued from the neighborhood who decided to stay for the storm.

She is doing OK, but there is still flooding in the area.