PINELLAS PARK, Fla. — With so much damage to homes caused by both hurricanes Helene and Milton, families are hoping to resume their lives as soon as possible.

One cleaning and restoration company in Pinellas County says they’ve been working hard helping people clean up.

What You Need To Know

  • PuroClean of Pinellas Park has been staying busy working to restore homes after damage from Hurricanes Helene and Milton

  • Adriana De Dios is the owner of the PuroClean and says the restoration process is taking a bit longer because of a backlog from contractors

  • The process to restore a home isn’t easy, and it starts with an assessment and then a drying process

There are several homes currently in the process of drying out to prevent any mold from forming, and that process isn’t easy. PuroClean of Pinellas Park said it can take several weeks before residents can move back into their homes.

Adriana De Dios has been working around the clock.

“Every day we’re getting from 40 to 60 calls — people that are still looking for some help from Hurricane Helene,” she said.

Adriana is the owner of PuroClean of Pinellas Park. It’s a restoration company that helps residents who may have experienced a fire or a flood in their home.

Once she’s done with one house, it’s onto the next. She starts by measuring the moisture, which will then help determine the amount of equipment they need to dry out a space.

“A full disinfection of the place is going to take place. Then after that they’re going to be able to hire a contractor to put it all back together to make it not only healthy but habitable for the next guests,” she explained.

She and her team are doing their best to get every home back to its original state.

Adriana says it can take up to an hour to access a property and provide an estimate, but once that’s done, the time to finish a full restoration can vary.

“Unfortunately, we depend on other contractors — like in this case, they’re going to need to get all that sand removed.”

With many other companies backlogged after two storms in a row, Adriana says it’s taking longer than normal to finish a home.

The homes that are in the process of drying require even more attention, she said.

“Every day we have to come to the property and take the moisture reading to make sure that the process is being successful.”

It can be a tedious process, but Adriana says the goal is to get people back into their homes as soon as possible.

The cleaning and restoration company says because of Hurricane Milton they’ve had to call in help from out-of-state companies as well.