TAMPA, Fla. —  A Pinellas County man has gone the extra mile to help his Indian Rocks Beach neighbors after Hurricane Helene, and his efforts have been met with overwhelming gratitude and response from the community.

What You Need To Know

  • Tanner Rice live-streamed views of homes and businesses on Indian Rocks Beach so residents could see how their properties fared after hurricane Helene. 

  • Rice and fellow resident Sara Salt organized a relief site on Gulf Blvd. 

  • Local boaters brough in relief supplies before road access to the Island was allowed.  

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Tanner Rice lives on a stilt home and evacuated from the island as Hurricane Helene approached. But he returned the next day even though driving access was not allowed.

“I rode my kayak from the intercoastal to come out here and parked in some guy’s backyard,” he said.

Rice saw someone streaming from Indian Rocks Beach on social media and caught a glimpse of his home and wanted to check on it. 

“I ran over and checked everything in my house,” he said. "A few things on the ground had been damaged, including a golf cart. But the house itself was fine.”

Rice decided to ride around the community and stream what he was seeing on the Indian Rocks Beach Life Facebook page. He streamed for hours on Friday and Saturday before residents who had evacuated were allowed to drive back to their homes.

While he live-streamed, he received thousands of messages from viewers eager to know the status of their homes. Many asked him to provide updates, sharing access codes to let him inside. Some even requested that he check their electrical breaker panels to turn off the power.

Before vehicles were allowed to drive back onto the island, Rice and fellow resident Sara Salt set up a relief tent in the parking lot of Pajanos Pizza & Subs on Gulf Boulevard. Local boating businesses contributed supplies to support their efforts.

“So Salty Dog charters out of Madeira Beach, they coordinated with Old Salt and Tampa Bay Offshore and we were able to get a lot of people to donate,” said Salt. “We brought a whole bunch of boat loads. There was probably 20 the first day and I know we collected 15 boat loads the second day,” she said.

Rice said lots of people were making donations to his Venmo account so he could keep buying relief supplies after access to the island was opened.

Even after access to the island was restored, Rice said that many people were donating to his Venmo account, allowing him to continue purchasing relief supplies.

“I’ve just been making trips back and forth from Home Depot, Lowes, Dollar Store, Publix,” he said. “I mean there’s hundreds and hundreds of people who have been sending me very generous donations for everything.”