One year after Hurricane Helene, multi‑generation families on Sunset Beach are rebuilding-navigating permits, repairs and rising risks-to keep their legacy on the Gulf.
00:00Joey Katz is a third generation Floridian. His family has lived along the sparkling warm gulf waters in southern Pinellas County, Florida for more than 40 years. But when hurricanes come, they don't just change the skyline. They can rewrite family history.
00:20Oh my God. One year ago, Hurricane Helene pushed storm surge into living rooms, piled sand into roadways, and turned a tight-knit strip of old coastal Florida into a disaster zone. It was very, very terrifying. I decided to wait it out thinking it wasn't going to be too bad. And I started feeling my bed get wet and the water just started rising. So I have a rabbit downstairs, so I had to get my rabbit. And by the time we opened the window, the water line was already at the window.
00:50Since Helene and then Milton, the rhythm in Sunset Beach has become less about paradise and more about permits, contractors, and tough choices to repair, raise, or replace.
01:02Some of them will never rebuild because the cost now would be hundreds of thousands or a million dollars for a home that their grandparents may have paid $40,000 or $50,000 to build in the 60s.
01:15So there are some homes that are just going to get bought up for property and never be able to be rebuilt.
01:24Joey's family has watched the tides turn here for decades. Storms come and go, but their family roots will always run deep.
01:33My grandfather has lived on the end of Sunset Beach for, I want to say, 40-plus years, and he was not leaving. He wanted to stay the entire time.
01:41I was very blessed that he survived and the whole house was still there.
01:45One year later, these multi-generational families along Sunset Beach are moving steadily towards what's next.
01:52Because for some, this isn't just about their community, it's their legacy.
01:58Reporting in Sunset Beach, Florida, I'm Leslie Hudson for AccuWeather.
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