In Hudson, Fla., residents decide to weather Hurricane Idalia but get stuck in flooding

HUDSON, Fla. – As Hurricane Idalia passed over Hudson, a community of about 13,000 people, located on Florida’s west coast about 40 miles north of St. Petersburg, some residents who decided to weather the storm say they regretted the decision.

Local 10 News crews at the scene said the water seemed to be receding in the city of Hudson, however, a mile away, the lower-lying areas closer to the Gulf at Hudson Beach were impassable.

Water rescues in Hudson were the most prevalent as many people didn’t heed mandatory evacuation orders, according to Pasco County Fire Rescue.

Rescue crews could be seen coming and going using small boats that were full of life jackets going through the flood waters and even going door to door to get people out of homes.

Those who stayed told Local 10 News that it was Wednesday morning when they realized they couldn’t stay in their houses, mostly because of flooding.

One resident said that he had never seen anything like it. “Before I knew it, it was over the wall.”

Margaret Chimenti said: “We’ve had a hurricane here, but it’s never flooded to this extent,” she said.

Kimberly Bernhardt said everything looked fine early in the morning.

“I got up around 6 a.m. It seemed okay because I didn’t have any water in the house and then I opened my door and it was right there. My friends were like, ‘This is low tide, but it’s only going to get worse.’ "

She needed to be rescued.

Capt. Andrew Breuer of Pasco County Fire Rescue said his crews started around 11 p.m. Tuesday.

“And we’ve been up all night,” he said.

Most of the calls, Breuer said, began around 6 a.m. Wednesday when the water began to rise.

“We brought in some high-water vehicles for rescues. We’ve rescued some elderly people all the way to a 10-day-old baby and pulling out as many people as we can,” he said.

Breuer sent this message to anyone in a hurricane situation.

“People need to listen to warnings ahead of time.”