Florida Man Strikes Again – This Time He Has Idalia In His Sights
FLORIDA MAN STRIKES AGAIN!
DATELINE – Hernando County and the Saga of Florida Man Nevin Jenkins.
Usually, when Florida Man strikes, you kind of want to hold your breath. But in this case, as you’ll hear from Local Ten, Florida Man’s neighbors are glad he did.
AUDIO COURTESY OF LOCAL TEN NEWS – There’s a lot to see, too. The damage is pretty widespread across Florida. We’re talking wind, water, and even fire damage as we’ve learned today.
And one thing we also noticed is neighbors really stepping up to help each other. A fast-moving fire tearing through this Hernando Beach home. The roads are flooded, and the neighborhood is cut off. In flies Nevin Jenkins riding on his airboat.
(Jenkins) “I said, is the fire department on the way? She said, no, they can’t come because the water’s too deep. So we hooked up the airboat.”
Jenkins evacuated his Hernando Beach home as instructed when his wife got word about a fire next door. No fire department because the roads are flooded. He was riding things out north in Homosassa Springs but knows some friends and neighbors decided to stay put. So he sped over through the marsh, popping up onto the street and connecting with a friend.
(Jenkins) “We pulled up on the road here and we grabbed two water hoses, one from there, one from here, and just started squirting for about 3 hours. I didn’t want the house to burn down or any of the neighbors. So, I mean, I didn’t know if we could really help. So we just did what we could do.”
Eventually, crews were able to find a way to them, believing all the flooding shorted a refrigerator at the home, which was empty at the time. It wasn’t the only fire reported, though.
(Neighbor) “House caught fire. It ended up three houses consecutively.”
Crews fanned out in Hudson dealing with fires of their own. Water took over the area, but has finally gone down. Residents like Barb Gibbs returning, taking that first step to start over.
(Gibbs) “I don’t know how I’m going to replace it, but it’s things. It’s things. At the end of the day, I’m okay.”
(Neighbor) “I don’t think anybody expected it to be quite this bad.”
Homes were ripped apart and businesses were in shambles. Residents in Cedar Key still sitting in the dark. Incredible video out of Horseshoe Bend as many figure out how to rebuild.
Across the board, we’ve seen so many neighbors really coming together, and helping neighbors. Yesterday we showed you several of the rescues. Not just first responders, but residents out here helping each other out. It seems like almost everybody out here knows each other by name.
The next step in this process, people are starting to deal with insurance and that’s already an aggravating process. That’s the latest here in Hudson. I’m Andrew Perez, Local Ten News.
You can see the video here on the Local 10 News website.
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