Massachusetts college student survives Hurricane Helene in Tampa – ‘undoubtedly scary’

TAMPA — The devastation caused by Hurricane Helene is hard to see on television screens, but it’s even harder to witness. A Massachusetts student weathered the storm in Florida and saw the devastation firsthand.

Experienced three hurricanes

There are many Floridians who have become accustomed to these types of storms, but that doesn’t always prepare them for the worst.

You’ll find videos of flooding and damage all over Nick Beloff’s phone. The University of Tampa senior has experienced at least three hurricanes during his tenure.

“It’s eye-opening for me as a student from the Northeast to see what these storms are capable of on such a large scale,” Beloff said.

While the other storms had devastating effects, Helene was something new to him. He’s seen the life-saving rescues, the raging floods and storm surges that surround social media.

“This one in particular was undoubtedly frightening. The size of the storm was crazy,” Beloff said.

He hunkered down in his family’s home in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Tampa. There was some flooding on her street, but most damage was minor.

“It’s crazy”

“After the storm passed, I was walking along what’s called Bayshore…it’s all over the news,” Beloff explained. “The whole street and the storm surge, I don’t even know how many meters. Unlike anything I’ve really seen since I’ve been here. It was crazy.”

He says the difference in geography is astonishing. It felt like a tropical storm at his house, but 15 minutes away on Bayshore Boulevard the winds blew him over.

The next morning he and a pal set out to check out his friend’s house in Dunedin. It’s about 35 minutes east of Nick’s house and directly in the path of the storm’s damaging winds.

“It’s not my house, and I think it was really difficult even for me just to see it,” Beloff says.

The area was devastated. There was 4 feet of water in his friend’s house. It took them six hours to search the damage.

“Decide what you want to keep, what you don’t want to keep, what you can save and what you can’t, but it’s just as important to be there for your friend,” Beloff added.