- October 22, 2024
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It was one of the worst moments of her life.
When BJ Bishop and her husband, Dave, returned to their home on Buttonwood Drive after Hurricane Helene had passed, Bishop said she broke down. After Dave Bishop heard her scream when entering the house, he rushed to her.
“I haven’t sobbed that hard or that much since my late husband died,” Bishop said.
The force of the water threw furniture around the house. Water damage showed that 3 to 5 feet had infiltrated their home.
Almost everything was ruined — clothes, photos, appliances and wooden furniture. Some things held special memories for BJ Bishop, having been owned by her late husband or a part of her family for years.
Walking around to her neighbors, BJ Bishop highlighted how tight-knit the community was. Some neighbors stayed, but most retreated before Hurricane Helene’s arrival. Throughout the storm, and after, neighbors continued checking in on one another and swapping stories.
Nearly all said the same: This storm was unprecedented, and the amount of water was devastating.
Water was the major cause of damage from Hurricane Helene. Storm surge from the storm began on Sept. 26 as it passed Longboat Key and went north toward Florida’s Big Bend region.
Residents in Longboat Key’s lowest-lying areas were impacted by the worst of the surge, and Bishop said she estimated Hurricane Helene brought between 3 and 5 feet of water into her family's home.
Many homes on Buttonwood Drive are directly on the canal, while others are only one lot away from it. Bishop’s home on the end of the street also faces water coming from the side where the canal curves and ends.
BJ and Dave Bishop lived in their Buttonwood home for 11 years almost to the day when Hurricane Helene’s impacts flooded Longboat Key. Dave Bishop, though, has lived in the area for about 40 years, and BJ Bishop has lived on the island for 22 years.
“There’s never been anything that I’ve seen like this,” BJ Bishop said.
A couple of houses down from Bishop are Luis and Christine Ortiz, also long-time Longboat Key residents. The couple have been living on Buttonwood Drive since 1993 and started a landscaping business together in 1995 which serves many Longboat Key residents.
“We’ve been here for a very long time and have never seen anything like it,” Luis Ortiz said.
Luis and his wife, Christine, stayed for Hurricane Helene. They said they have a family “policy” to leave if the storm will be a Category 3 or above.
But on the day Longboat Key saw Hurricane Helene’s impacts, Luis and Christine Ortiz said the severity of the storm took them by surprise, especially the amount of water. They didn’t expect to have about 2 to 3 feet of water in the house.
When the water started approaching the house around 5 p.m. that day, Luis Ortiz said they frantically started moving items from off the ground, trying to save some of their personal belongings.
Outside, their vehicles were stuck. The Ortiz family lost two cars, a van and a dump truck that they used for their landscaping business, all of which were ruined by too much water intrusion.
Carolyn Wedekind, another Buttonwood Drive neighbor, is a part-time resident. She was on a cycling trip in Prince Edward Island when she heard that her neighborhood was badly damaged by Hurricane Helene.
She said she quickly finished the tour, arrived at her home in Wisconsin and scrambled in a day to fly down to see her Longboat Key house.
What she saw was much like Bishop’s experience — furniture strewn across the house, and personal effects ruined. Many cabinets and drawers were still filled with water when she opened them, she said.
“It’s just incredible the force of the water,” Wedekind said, explaining that some items had been moved to the opposite side of the house by the storm surge.
The water also rose about 3 feet in her garage, which ruined the car she had stored there.
Much of Wedekind’s clothing was soaked in surge water, and she said she spent three hours at a laundromat, taking up eight washers trying to clean what clothes she could save.
At the house, not much was salvageable. What she could save, she packed in boxes and the back of a U-Haul.
The rest, though, was piled up on the side of the street. Wedekind spoke about how emotional it was for her and her neighbors to throw away belongings.
“You’re seeing people’s lives on the streets,” Wedekind said. “Everything has a story.”
When Luis Ortiz shared his family’s story, he said the same. It's especially emotional for families who have lived in the homes for decades and raised families there, like the Ortiz family.
“It’s like your soul is being taken out,” Ortiz said.
