An elderly Tampa woman watched her car float away during the 2024 hurricanes.
An Ybor City yoga teacher lost 75% of her membership after back-to-back flooding events and subsequent recoveries kept shutting down her business.
And a retired St. Petersburg homeowner has a property insurance premium of $8,000 a year.
On Wednesday, 18 speakers shared how extreme weather is impacting their lives, with Tampa Mayor Jane Castor and U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Tampa, listening.
The Extreme Weather People’s Hearing is an event that travels to cities across the country, like Asheville and Altadena previously, spotlighting residents’ stories of surviving destructive storms and wildfires intensified by climate-warming pollution.
It’s put on by the national advocacy organization Climate Action Campaign along with local partnerships in each location.
Federal climate regulation rollbacks
“We're working really hard to shed light on the rollbacks of this Trump administration, and what they're doing that's making folks less safe, more exposed to extreme weather,” said Madeline Page, director of government affairs for the campaign.
Just last week, the Trump administration revoked a 2009 endangerment finding, which said heat-trapping gases, like methane and carbon dioxide, threaten public health. That scientific determination allowed for the regulation of these pollutants from cars, trucks, and power plants.
"I don't know how policymakers can look away right now … to the damage, of the health impacts, mental health impacts, the impacts to your bottom line. They ignore the science," Rep. Kathy Castor said.
ALSO READ: Extreme heat is increasing health risks for pregnant Floridians
“When you're talking about climate change, it's not just about the weather, it's about your wallet, as well. And nobody can tell the stories better than a lot of the folks who have lived it here across Tampa Bay.”
Oceanographer inundated by surge
Rick Cole said Hurricane Helene pushed 2 feet of water into his St. Pete Beach house, destroying 80% of everything he had.
"A lot of my neighbors lost everything, including their homes ... a lot of the seniors out in Pass-a-Grille sold and left,” Cole said.
He was accepted into the state’s Elevate Florida program to help raise his home, but he said there were many delays.
As an oceanographer, Cole spent 40 years collecting data for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In his professional opinion, he called Hurricanes Helene and Milton “freaks of nature.”
“We've never seen two storms form in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico like they did,” he said, adding that the world's oceans are the warmest they've ever been since the start of recording their temperature.
Warm waters have been linked to fueling storms.
PTSD, Spanish access, and heat
Tami Shadduck's home in the St. Petersburg neighborhood of Shore Acres flooded twice since she's lived there: 2 inches the first time, jumping to 3 feet the second time.
Shadduck works in public health and told Mayor Jane Castor one of the things cities can improve on is providing mental health resources after storms.
"We are still struggling with serious health issues like anxiety and depression, PTSD and chronic stress," Shadduck said. "Many who are still displaced aren't ... eating well, or exercising, and our relationships have been tested to the max."
Linda Perez, founder of Boricuas de Corazon, Inc., said her nonprofit fed up to 1,800 people breakfast, lunch, and dinner at one point after the 2024 storms.
Her group partners with government officials to communicate emergency information with Spanish speakers.
Her organization is still helping about 300 Spanish-speaking households clean up after the 2024 storms, filling up to 80 of the 55-gallon contractor trash bags for one home.
In Lutz, Kayla Foreid has been a performer, a coach, ensemble director and a competitive circuit staff member for high school marching band the last 14 years.
In that time, she's witnessed how extreme heat has changed the activity and performers.
"Last summer, we reached record setting heat. This level of heat can pose a danger to students doing physical activity for prolonged periods outdoors," Foreid said.
"In this respect, I'm reminded of Hezekiah Walters, a Middleton High School football player who died with an internal body temperature of 102 degrees after participating in outdoor conditioning in 2019."
Local level climate action
Congresswoman Castor said she'll take these stories to Washington D.C.
Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said sharing her city’s stories with the rest of the nation is beneficial, adding that climate change is difficult to deny.
"When you look at just the extreme weather events that we've had here in Florida, not to mention all over the nation and all over the world," she said.
Jane Castor is part of the Climate Mayors group within the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
Tampa has been localizing climate action under Castor: creating the Sustainability and Resilience Officer position, publishing the Resilient Tampa roadmap, a Climate Action and Equity Plan, and the Heat Resilience Playbook.
When asked about proposed legislation in Tallahassee which would prohibit local governments from setting their own goals for lowering climate-warming emissions, Mayor Castor said the state should allow cities and counties to handle issues that impact them directly.
