TAMPA — Bev Kieny has lived in Tampa’s Forest Hills neighborhood for more than 20 years. She’s also the president of the Forest Hills Neighborhood Association.
She’s never seen flooding in her neighborhood like what happened after Hurricane Milton.
“It was very surprising to see the flooding,” said Kieny.
WATCH: 1 year after Hurricane Milton, Tampa's Forest Hills community still recovering
Parts of Forest Hills saw several feet of flooding.
“We had to have boat rescues and in the following days when people couldn’t get out of their houses,” said Kieny.
They didn’t expect the flood because the area is in Zone X, meaning it’s a low-risk for flooding.
Most people weren’t prepared for the water and didn’t have flood insurance.
“We thought we were safe,” said Kieny.
The city has shared that part of the problem was that the backup generators for the pumps failed, so all the water flowing into the neighborhood had nowhere to go.
“I had 54 people that I know were flooded,” said Kieny.
Now one year later, people are still recovering.
“Today I want to say, that we’re having a little PTSD because… I get notifications from my phone, and it shows me what I was doing last year so I think I’m a little more upset than most people because I felt very stressed to help people during that time. I didn’t address any of my own problems until like a couple of months later,” said Kieny.
She told Tampa Bay 28 that many of her neighbors have had a hard time getting funding to fix their homes. Some people have been able to move back in, some are still working on repairs, and others have had to sell.
“It’s not an easy process. These people are still out… These are people who are multi-generational. Their parents lived here. They don’t want to give up the single-family home style that we have in this little oasis here in Forest Hills,” said Kieny.
Just down the street, the University Area also had unexpected flooding after Hurricane Milton.
So Tampa Bay 28 asked city councilman, Luis Viera, how leaders have been working to address these issues over the past year.
“So a couple of things. When it comes to North Tampa, obviously, making sure all City of Tampa pumps and backup generators are working because it is believed that this caused, in part, the flooding in North Tampa. It’s obvious that we had storms of the century. What happened with Helene and what happened with Milton are things that, God willing, will not happen again,” said Viera.
He also said they’re taking a look at long-term infrastructure projects to improve drainage around the city, and providing more funding for people to get some assistance since many didn’t have flood insurance.
“Working with the mayor, city council appropriated another $2 million to help out flood victims and we’re actually going to be briefed on that I believe it is later this month on the status of those funds and how people can apply for them,” said Viera.
Kieny would like to see more long-term work done.
“Next, I’d like to see a water study that say how the water flows through Forest Hills. You know we have a system of aquifers and lakes in this area but we learned at one of the flood resiliency meetings that 20 lakes in Hillsborough County flowed into our area,” she said.
One year later, there’s still more work to be done.
“A lot of people think that one year later, people are doing fine. They’re not doing fine. They’re still hurting,” said Viera.
Should this ever happen again, Kieny is now better prepared.
“What I have now is a playbook I will share with anybody because we have lived and been through this,” said Kieny.
Although she hopes she’ll never have to use it.
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It's been one year since Hurricane Milton impacted our community. Tampa Bay 28 revisited some of Tampa Bay's hardest hit areas to show the recovery and the work that still needs to be done.
