Harbor Belle residents in Punta Gorda on day 7 with no power after Helene

Hurricane Helene’s impact on an RV park in Punta Gorda has left the community in the sweltering heat with nowhere else to turn, as they’re going on day 6 with no electricity. The president of the company who owns the property tells WINK News they’re working to get power restored, but it may take some time as they will likely have to go house by house to see how each property was uniquely impacted by Helene’s floodwaters.

Helene is now in the past for many people, but for those living in the Harbor Belle Park RV Resort, Helene is still causing a world of issues. Many of them lost cars due to floodwaters, others lost everything inside their house.

WINK News anchor Annette Montgomery went to Punta Gorda to hear from the community and find out why they feel as though they have nowhere else to turn.

There are over 150 different lots in the RV resort, each with a person with a different story and struggle post-Helene.

All you will see is pile after pile of what they own out in front of their homes.

On Wednesday, they are going on day six without power, so in addition to questions about what’s next, they are also worried about the present.

Terry Thompson, a resident of the RV park, said, “I’m sitting here looking at my wife’s feet, and all this water was coming in, and she started taking towels, trying to wring them out, and dumping them in the sink. I said, ‘You’re not going to win. You’re not going to win this.'”

As Dorothy Thompson watched the floodwaters rise in her home during Hurricane Helene, she made a bold statement to her husband.

“When it was ankle deep, I just turned and looked at him, and I said, ‘I’m not going to drown in this house,'” she said. “I mean, I got two little puppies here. I’ll wade through the waters. It was chest deep at that point, and I’ll wade through the waters. I’m trying to get out of here.”

They’re taking it one day at a time, and said they have been receiving assistance from Legacy Communities the company in charge of the park. Neighbors said they’re just trying to manage without power, and relying on generators while they wait.

“There’s water inside the car. It burnt the wires off of the ignition or starter. I just put a new starter in trying to get up around. We’ve had friends taking us to get gas for the generator and ice,” Terry explained.

It is day seven, and there is no power, and the Thompsons and other Harbor Belle RV Resort residents must decide what to do next.

“The outside fridge was floating. It was floating. Our gas dryer was floating. All my work tools. Everything’s just shot,” Terry said.

Now, just like other parts of Florida were wrecked by Helene, these neighbors are taking it one day at a time, one pile at a time.

“It’s the worst ever. And I’ve been through five major hurricanes ever since [Hurricane] Andrew down in Miami. So we’re just going to try and do what we can do,” said Dorothy.

Neighbors we spoke with said they have questions all relating to power.

When can they expect it to be on? How much of this RV park actually has power at this time? And what is the holdup?

We contacted the president of the company, Andrew Fells spoke with us and said they are working to get power restored in this community, but there is no telling at this time how long this may take.

“The process we’re taking right now is to analyze all of the infrastructure within the community. The pedestals that provide the power, the underground infrastructure, the meters, the entire structure that is the responsibility of the community to be able to provide power to these homes, because of the amount of surge, and the high water mark within the community. A lot of that infrastructure was underwater, and until we can do a full assessment of that system, what repairs need to be made, which repairs are already underway, but we’ve got to be able to get through the entire community and understand what impact there is to the full infrastructure before we can start energizing the park safely,” Fells said.

He said they hope to have a plan by Monday.