Doing laundry is a gift when you're waterlogged and your home has no power

This weekend, residents of several St. Petersburg neighborhoods continued to pile the contents of their homes onto the curb.

Hundreds of water-soaked couches, beds, refrigerators and toys lined the streets. Residents, their friends and professional cleaning companies created piles of debris sometimes as tall as the six-feet-storm surge from Hurricane Helene.

Sometimes, folks took a break thanks to local volunteers. A food truck gave out free meals at the neighborhood rec center and the city set up a mobile laundry unit at a local church.

Pinellas County cities like South Pasadena and St. Petersburg brought in mobile operations to help people without power, water or safe housing.

Many cities had cooling stations where cell phones could also be charged. South Pasadena set up mobile showers, and St. Petersburg set up a laundromat on wheels.

Janki Sharma and her brother, Devang, were cleaning clothes recovered from the home they share with her parents in Shore Acres.

Standing next to a row of spinning washers and dryers, Janki started crying about what lies ahead.

"Five feet...more than five feet of water in my house," she said. "It's totally gone. We do not have anything."

Sharma said a friend took them in, but her family will need to rent something soon. The idea of returning to work, she said, is just too much to think about right now.

Pam Lewin was also at the laundry, located at Allendale Methodist Church on 38th Ave. N.

Lewin said several feet of water soaked everything inside her house in Riviera Bay in North St. Petersburg. She found a fish swimming in her yard when the water receded.

She brought wet clothes and a heavy water-logged comforter to the free laundry service that will be open 24 hours a day. City staff is there to help from 7 in the morning until 7 at night, providing soap for people who don't have any.

Lewin said she's grateful she is alive. She thought water rose to her window sill, but she expects to be able to stay in the home where she has lived since the late 1980s.

"We give thanks in all things, because it could be a lot worse. At least we are alive," she said. "Thank God for those that are willing to reach out and assist others in times of need."

Samantha Johnson of St. Peterburg's Disston Park neighborhood has been without power since Thursday.

She said her house was not damaged, but she needed to do laundry before her daughter returned to school on Monday.

In Pinellas County, all but three schools severely damaged by the storm will be open. But many families in the district continue to be without power or other essential services.

"It's a little bittersweet, but it is a relief that she will be able to spend the day — in the air (conditioning) with her friends, I am happy about that," Johnson said.

As of Sunday afternoon, more than 60,000 Duke Energy customers in Pinellas remained without power.