Urgent Help for Pete Nelson's Family After Hurricanes

Hello Friends,

To those of you who don't know me my name is Pete Nelson. I live in Ruskin Fl. Thank you for taking time to read my story.

In the last 3 weeks many millions of people in the state of Florida have been devastated by not only 1 but 2 hurricanes back to back.

When word of Hurricane Helene hit the radar near the end of September it was no surprise to Floridian's . Of course, it's September in FL. As usual we watch the news and radar and slowly decide if we are at risk and make plans and provision accordingly.

As Hurricane Helene was growing into a monster hurricane in the Gull of Mexico it wasn't really of great concern because her path was tracking 110 miles off the coast of Florida. No worries right ? Well as the meteorologist's continued to follow her there was warning of a massive coastal surge to the Tampa Bay Area that could be historic, causing massive devastation never seen in the Tampa Bay area.

On August 1st I was blessed to find a small, quaint upper unit duplex right on the bay. I'm a musician/songwriter as well as an aspiring life coach and recently licensed insurance agent.

One week after I moved into my apartment the area was hit with a tropical storm and I got a taste of being on the coastal waters. There was some moderate flooding and winds but certainly nothing close to what was to come next month.

On September 24th Hurricane Helene had formed in the Caribbean and was headed toward the Big Bend of Florida. Helene was tracking parallel to FL. Storm surge watch's became warnings. As Helene moved north the warnings became dire. Eventually mandatory evacuation orders were issued with potential storm surge of 15 ft !

I wasn't buying into it but heeded the call responsibly and corresponded with the property owner about preparations. I packed up my most valuable possessions and headed to my girlfriends in Lakeland ,well outside of the surge zones expecting the worst and hoping for the best.

My 2 oldest children (Elliott & Sera) attend USF and are in student housing well outside of evacuation zones. My youngest daughter Ava lives with her mother in Apollo Beach which was also under mandatory evacuation orders. They evacuated to my 2 oldest children's apartment in N Tampa/Lutz.

Upon returning to Ruskin from Lakeland I could not believe my eyes. As pictures and video show, it was total devastation for any home that was on the first floor in my neighborhood. The storm had a surge of 6ft according to news reports. As I drove down W Shell Point Rd. I was in awe of the destruction from mainly the surge as opposed to wind. It appeared as if an aquarium was just drained. The amount of debris and destruction was mind blowing and historic.

As I drove up to my place I couldn't believe my eyes. Total destruction all around me. I first went into the bottom unit which had the door wide open from the massive force of the surge. I honestly couldn't believe my eyes. I had seen this on the news from other hurricanes but never experienced it this closely. The bottom unit was a total loss. Everything was water logged up to about 4 ft. The hot water heater was tipped over with water spewing onto the floor. The elevated A/C units were tipped over. A section of the boat dock was about 150 yards "behind" the unit propped up on a fence and the garbage/recycling cans were nowhere to be found. Everything was literally a disaster. My unit upstairs was mostly spared but the bottom unit destruction obviously has ramifications to the upper unit. The residence of my daughter Ava who lives with her mother, was in a ground floor unit and it was totally destroyed. The management company terminated their lease and forced them to be out in 10 days in order to renovate. So I took Ava in temporarily while her mother looked for a new place,

Fortunately, with the help of my church we promptly demoed the floors and walls in order to dry out and start restoration in my building. A week later after finally getting all debris out to the garbage pick area at the end of the driveway I mentioned to the owner while wrapping up clean up that there was a tropical depression forming and potentially threatening Tampa again. Sure enough it would become Hurricane Milton.

While piles of debris still littered the community Milton was headed strait toward the Tampa Bay Area as a Cat 5 ! The chances of these 2 hurricanes back to back were unprecedented ! The storm surge from Helene was also unprecedented.

Already fatigued from the destruction and devastation of Helene the hurricane panic for gas and groceries was almost immediate.

EVERYONE was taking Milton seriously unlike Helene. Gasoline disappeared. Shutters were up, plywood was on everybody's windows & doors and grocery shortages were happening again all in two weeks time.

Once again, mandatory evacuation orders were in place. This time I evacuated with Ava to my kids apartment near their college. We hunkered down and lost power and waited for Milton to pass. Everyone was safe and nobody was hurt thank God. At daybreak a slowly made my way back to Ruskin. The debris was much more apparent because this was a wind, rain and surge event.

As I drove back into Ruskin, all the debris that was still out in the front of peoples yards was scattered everywhere and it just looked like a war zone. Powerlines were down with massive amounts of trees down and once again even more devastation. As I pulled up to my place, very slowly, I could see a power line hanging in front of my place. I was barely able to get through the streets full of debris. I was unable to pull into my driveway because there was a massive pile of debris sitting in the driveway. It turns out, it was my roof !

Unfortunately, I was not unaffected by this hurricane.

When I walked into my place, my unit was clearly affected. The roof was ripped off the building the awning and gutters destroyed, and there was massive wind damage. My ceiling drywall was all wet, but not totally destroyed. There is still no power as of the writing of this story, which is the morning of October 14th. My daughter Ava is now staying with her siblings currently. I have been displaced and The kids mother is also displaced. I'm currently staying with my girlfriend who has been a huge supporter in all of this.

I apologize for the long-winded story, but I just really wanted to put this in perspective. I'm not even trying to make it dramatic. These are just the facts of what has happened here.

Anyone who knows me knows the last 3 1/2 years of my life have been nothing short of miraculous. I have faced challenges as we all do, but they have been life-threatening at times with my health, as well as with the hurricane's among other serious challenges. For the last three weeks, I've been unable to work and cannot provide the support that my kids have relied on and I just started a new career at 51 yrs old

In this fundraiser I'm just trying to get by the next month with housing for myself and Ava so that I can get established with a workplace and provide mainly for Ava but also for Sera and Elliott for basic needs like insurance and rent for the coming month. As of now, I'm not sure if I'm going to lose my place or not it just really depends on when the power gets back on and how much restoration time will be needed. Any contribution you can provide in helping take this blow would be greatly appreciated. I know that this too shall pass, but it has been physically, mentally, emotionally and financially exhausting. If you feel called to contribute, I would be grateful more than you can imagine. And I know ultimately God has this as He has brought me through all of these life storms in the last 3 1/2 years. Anyway, thank you for reading about the last three weeks of my life and I hope all that have been affected are getting back on their feet and safe. God bless, Pete.