SARASOTA COUNTY, Fla — People like Cassandra Smith and her husband, Anthony, lost nearly everything they owned a week ago as historic rainfall during Debby caused flooding across Manatee and Sarasota Counties.
“It was traumatizing. Very traumatizing,” said Cassandra, whose home is located near the airport in Sarasota. “I’ve never seen anything to this extent of flooding in this county, and I was born and raised here.”
They lost most of their belongings, and so did their kids, ages 12, 8, and 1.
“We have nowhere to live now, so we’re pretty much homeless with three kids,” said Cassandra.
A resource center that seeks to help those impacted by Debby is now open in Sarasota County.
It is located at Sarasota Christian Church (2923 Ashton Road) in Sarasota and will be open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily through at least Friday.
Sunday afternoon, they did get some help at the resource center, which is trying to help the families who have nowhere else to turn.
An alphabet soup of agencies and nonprofits are located at the center.
“And these are things really to just help the community members get back up on their feet after the impacts we saw from Hurricane Debby – both short and long-term,” said Cole Washko, a public information officer with Sarasota County.
Over the next week, he hopes everyone impacted by the storm in the county will stop by the center.
“Even if you just need a case of water. Even if you need someone to talk to. You know, we are here to help,” he said.
Free rides are available to the center by calling 311.
The Smiths stopped by the resource center and also applied for FEMA individual assistance on Sunday.
Still, they can’t yet see how they’ll make it all work. They've launched a GoFundMe page.
“I’m hopeful for the future, but the process is hard,” said Anthony Smith. “I think everything’s going to play out in the long run, you know, you just gotta be persistent and make the next right step.”
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