Help Leah Rebuild After Hurricane Helene

Hi friends and family, my name is Leah and I am reaching out to you in my time of need. Unfortunately I have fallen victim to Hurricane Helene. My whole neighborhood (Shore Acres of St. Pete, Florida) was hit with 6-7ft of storm surge water that had a devastating impact to the whole area. My neighborhood is in a flood zone much like most of the county, but my roommates and I couldn’t evacuate in time.

The day of the hurricane around 12pm, my road already had 3ft of water which was much too high for our cars to drive through. We decided we had to stay.. my roommates had animals and we didn’t have transportation out.

Around 10pm we first noticed water in the house, by 1030pm the house had taken on 2ft of water getting past all of our sandbags and flood protection. By 11pm water was up to our knees as we scrambled to get any personal belongings we could carry. We climbed out of the window nearest our driveway where we sat on the hoods of our cars from 11pm to 8am.

The entire house in that time was flooded with 5-6ft of salt water, as well as sewage coming up through the tub and toilet, that virtually destroyed every possession we owned.. outside of the backpacks we climbed out with.

If you know me, you know I don’t need much nor do I ask for much, but unfortunately I have no clothes, no car, and no permanent place to live while everything gets sorted out with insurances and what not. I expect that to take more than 4-6 weeks to get handled, and I don’t have much to my name until then.

Please send what you can to help this girl get back on her feet, and I’d also ask that you donate some to the relief efforts of Hurricane Helene because I know it wasn’t just my neighborhood with families that lost everything.

I’m starting this gofundme so I can recoup from all that I’ve lost. I’ll need to put down first and last month’s rent, as well as a security deposit for a new place (not in a flood zone). I’m also needing to buy new work clothes and rent a car until my insurance claims get resolved. Not to mention food and daily living expenses.

I appreciate anything anyone can do and to anyone who wants to reach out for pics of damage or anything don’t hesitate to ask.

Thank You!