RUSKIN, Fla. — Some residents in the Hawaiian Isles RV Resort in Ruskin still don’t have power after losing it during Hurricane Helene, then getting hit with Hurricane Milton.

What You Need To Know

  •  Residents of the Hawaiian Isles RV resort are struggling to recover from Hurricane Helene

  •  Some residents don't have power, and are struggling with dealing with sinking foundations

  •  Two pastors are working on helping residents

Two pastors are stepping up and trying to help as many residents as they can, but the amount of need is overwhelming.

Currently, 40% of people living in the area are still without power. They lost it during Hurricane Helene and it’s yet to be restored.

“Hawaiian Isles got on my radar right after Helene, the storm surge was pretty catastrophic, every one of these trailers are raised and every one of them had water going through the entire trailer,” said Tom Campbell, who goes by “Pastor Tom.”

He’s the pastor of SeaGlass church in Apollo Beach, but in recent weeks, Hawaiian Isles has become a home away from home.

He’s mobilized over 600 volunteers to date to come out here and help people after Hurricane Helene and Milton devastated the community, but he says even that isn’t enough.

“A lot of the bigger organizations don’t deal with rentals because they put the onus on the landlords for a lot of the issues, but the landlords here, and I don’t want to finger point, but they haven’t stepped up, and haven’t lived up to a lot of their lease agreements,” said Campbell.

Tom Klein, who’s lived in Hawaiian Isles RV Park full time for the last five years, also serves people in his community as a pastor.

“Honestly, it’s a God thing. We’re here to serve, and that’s what we do. We have our own little ministry here and that’s what we’re doing, we’re serving, and just trying to help our community,” he said. 

Klein said he and his wife, Anne, were very fortunate. While it may look like a construction zone inside, their damage was minimal compared to his neighbors.

Campbell and Klein say many of the people living in Hawaiian Isles gave up, leaving everything behind, because the damage to the property is too severe.

They say there have been disputes over everything from who’s responsible for repairing and restoring electricity to who’s responsible for fixing sinking foundations.

“We just need people who are supposed to be responsible to step up and do their part, get up off your apathy and make it happen,” said Campbell.

The Wilder Corporation, which owns Hawaiian Isles RV Park, did not return a request for comment.

In the meantime, Campbell says the Hawaiian Isles residents need help to remove the debris.

Since residents don’t have Hillsborough County waste collection, they can’t take items to the dump, so he’s asking for anyone with a truck and a Hillsborough County tax ID to come out, and help them remove the debris.