HUDSON, Fla. — The coastal neighborhoods in Hudson have several things in common right now — piles of debris outside their homes, the smell of mold growing in flooded out homes and people feeling the financial strain of what is ahead.

What You Need To Know

  • Hudson coastal communities struggling following Hurricane Helene

  • Kate Mullin lost everything during Hurricane Idalia, and once again lost everything in Helene

  • Mullin and her neighbors don't want to leave and are considering raising their houses onto stilts, in fear of the next hurricane 

“This is the water line,” said Kate Mullin, Hudson resident. “It came up this far, it ran in through the windows, it ran in through the doors.”

Mullin has given the tour of hurricane damage at her home one too many times in recent years; Idalia, Debby and now Helene.

Two days before Helene passed 100 miles off the coast of Pasco County, she stood on her dock explaining the small preparations she was taking ahead of the storm. It was mostly lessons she had learned from previous storms.

“You remember my deck. And so the force of the storm pushed my deck all the way up,” she said, pointing at the crumpled pile of wood.

Last week, she showed off her new floors she was forced to get following Hurricane Idalia in 2023.

Today, those same floors are covered in storm debris, after sitting under storm surge waters for hours. Almost everything in her home was under water following Helene. 

“It went over the counters. There’s a line I don’t know if you could see, it was just above here,” she said, pointing to a spot above the counters in her kitchen.

Mullin stayed just a few miles inland at an Airbnb with her neighbors.

She left her cat Robby in the home, truly believing the storm waters would not be as high as they were.

When she returned two days later, she was sure she couldn’t have survived.

“So I opened the door like an inch and…I start crying then because I didn’t want to cry, you know. Robby lost one of your lives,” said Mullin.

Robby is now safe and sound, sleeping in the Airbnb. Mullin has spent the last several days removing items from her house, as she waits for FEMA to come out.

She and her neighbors are leaning on one another through this extremely difficult time. One big discussion in the neighborhood continues to be about whether or not to raise each home onto stilts. But the thought of adding that potential cost to everything else is causing more stress.

“It is daunting. It might not be daunting to somebody who’s rich, but for the average Joe, that is daunting,” said Mullin. “Plus you’re not only going to raise your house up. You’ve got to, you know, find a place to live meanwhile.”

Mullin said she will meet with FEMA on Oct. 9.