ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — People around Tampa Bay are still clearing away debris and assessing damage to their community after Hurricane Helene.

The damage from this storm extends into several parts of South St. Pete, including on and around Coquina Key, where there were reports of flooding.

Large piles of debris were visible upon turning on the main road, and there was one homeowner being extra careful when it comes to toxins and mold.

Ojas Natarajan spotted mold on the back of one of his dressers now sitting on his front lawn.

“This can cause long term respiratory problems, and even if not for you, for somebody that’s coming to your house,” Natarajan said.

Natarajan is used to teaching lessons about science. But this storm taught the marine biologist a lesson he wasn’t quite prepared to learn.

“That’s a little too much water than I expected for a storm that’s 100 miles away,” he said.

Like most people near Coquina Key, he got several feet of water inside of his home.

“This is (a) flood zone, so it’s not like it won’t happen, but not to the extent that it happened,” he said. “I guess, the last few storms it was never coming in or touch the door. So, I was like at max, it’s going to go a little bit into my garage. That’s why I put flood tape up. “

Natarajan was out of town last week, so he had a different view of the storm surge at his house. He said he watched from his cameras.

“It’s like a horror movie, you see the water rising. 'Oh the HVAC, oh, bye, bye HVAC,' and then everything goes black,” he said.

On Tuesday, he was back in his home to survey the damage. All day Wednesday, a group of marine biologists who are also his close friends were there, masked and gloved up, clearing out his home.

Natarajan said his friends are helping him with a place to stay and telling him what agencies and organizations he needs to connect with to get back to some sense of normalcy.