PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — There are about 80 mobile homes at the Twin City Mobile Home Community and nearly as many opinions from residents who are figuring out what to do after Pinellas County sent them “substantial damage” letters after Hurricane Idalia flooded the park in August 2023.
Some have already moved, others are attempting to sell for as much as they can, but most are just going to stay and see what happens after a June 1 deadline. That’s when the new hurricane season begins and is when their temporary occupancy notices expire.
Only one resident we talked to wanted to go on camera, however, they say they feared harassment from park management or didn’t want to hurt their chances to sell.
"Heartbreaking,” said trailer owner Erin Roth. “It's heartbreaking to have to leave."
Roth says she’s stuck with her trailer. No way she can afford tens of thousands of dollars in improvements. She can’t afford to live anywhere else, where her trailer is paid off and the lot rent is less than $700.
"We're supposed to leave by June 1st and we've yet to hear anything [from park management,]” she said.
The homes here are two to three feet in elevation. During Hurricane Idalia, water levels rose to five feet.
Following the storm, residents of Twin City got letters from Pinellas County saying all the homes were "substantially damaged.” A term used for compliance with the national flood insurance program.
The rule says homes must be raised above 100-year flood levels, if they are in a flood hazard area and were damaged in a disaster where repairs would cost 50 percent of the home’s value or more. Raising a home is a job that's easily 10s of thousands of dollars. But Roth can't leave either.
"Most of us are on fixed incomes in here,” Roth said. “I live off disability so it's not an option to rent a three thousand dollar a month apartment.”
The county tells us it may push back the deadline but if the homes remain out of compliance, all homeowners in Pinellas could lose the ability to get flood insurance through the NFIP.
"I want to leave by June 1st but who knows," Roth said.
The “50 percent” rule hits mobile homeowners especially hard, leaving them vulnerable to substantial damage designations because their assessed value is typically a fraction of a single-family home or a condo.
That means the cost to repair damage has a much higher chance of going past 50 percent of the home's value.