PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — Six months after Tampa Bay's first direct hit from a major hurricane in decades, images of Milton's wrath are forever ingrained in our minds.
For Melissa Edwards, who works at Seaside Seabird Sanctuary, those images stick with her, but now the sanctuary is getting repaired.
"It was unrecognizable…I really wasn't sure how we were going to get it back up and running," said Edwards.
For Edwards, recovery seemed out of reach.
"Milton really did damage the netting of our enclosures…so it was kind of a one-two punch," she said.
Thankfully, no birds were hurt during hurricanes Helene and Milton.
"It felt like a huge setback…but knowing our birds were okay, I knew we would be okay," said Edwards.
Edwards was right.
"We renovate animal shelters and domestic violence shelters all over the country," said Casey Paholski with Greater Good Charities.
Volunteers with Greater Good Charities traveled from all over the U.S. to fix up the sanctuary.
"We are here replacing all the netting, replacing all the rigging, all the steel cables that support all of the netting for the enclosures," said Paholski.
"Just the netting alone would have been $75,000 on top of our $600,000 in damages. It was quite daunting," said Edwards.
Edwards said the sanctuary should be back up and running normally in a couple of weeks.
"We can't wait to give our birds a new safe home to be in," she said.
“You know, it might just be time we take a look if HOAs are really even necessary.
Maybe we should just do away with homeowner associations as a whole.”
South Florida lawmaker Rep. Juan Carlos Porras (R-Miami) says it may be time to do away with homeowners associations altogether, as more Floridians speak out about rising fees, costly lawsuits, and even arrests tied to HOA disputes. He said this week that he is considering filing legislation in the next session that would abolish HOAs statewide.
