TREASURE ISLAND, Fla. (WFLA) — The death toll from Hurricane Helene continues to rise.
Officials said there are now 183 confirmed fatalities in multiple states, and hundreds are still missing as a result of the storm and its aftermath.
At the time this article was written, there were 14 confirmed deaths in the Tampa Bay area, each with a story of their own.
93-year-old Margaret McGarigle was born in Ireland in 1930.
Her daughter, Mary McGarigle, said she came over to the U.S. and met her husband at a YMCA dance in Chicago.
They got married in 1954 and moved down to Florida in the 80s.
Mary said her brother David stayed with their mom as Hurricane Helene battered Pinellas County.
Mary talked with him Thursday night as the storm surge came rushing into Treasure Island.
He had sandbagged the house as the water started to come in,” she said.
Then Mary got a call at about 5 a.m. Friday with the news her mother didn’t make it out.
“My brother still stayed in the house,” she said. “He tried to resuscitate her.”
In Pinellas Park, Steven Boelsche was not in an evacuation zone.
His brother, Douglas Boelsche, who lives in North Carolina, checked in with him constantly throughout the storm.
“It was about 7:30 [Friday morning], at noon I texted him, ‘are you okay, give me a call, did you get your power back on,'” he said. “About 4:00 I called again. No answer.”
Just a little while later, Douglas got a call from his good friend who stopped by to check in on Steven.
“Tony called me and said that Steven is dead in the pool,” Douglas said. “I said, ‘Tony don’t play that’s not funny.'”
“He said, ‘I’m not kidding Doug.'”
Detectives believe Steven drowned and may have been electrocuted.
His brother told News Channel 8 Steven died while trying to help a neighbor.
“He was a good guy,” Douglas said. “He was getting the generator out so he could throw an electrical cord over the fence for the lady who lost power too.”
If you lost someone or need mental health help after Hurricane Helene, there is a disaster distress helpline with trained counselors available 24/7 at 1-800-985-5990.