St. Petersburg officials opened the first of a series of public resilience meetings on May 19, 2026, to talk flood risk and long-term planning in neighborhoods like Shore Acres. Residents and civic leaders, including Barry Rubin and council member Mike Harting, laid out how recovery from the 2024 hurricane season is still incomplete while the city rolls out a vulnerability assessment and early mitigation projects like a new pump station.
With hurricane season less than two weeks away, anxiety in Shore Acres is raw. Two years after storms caused catastrophic flooding, many homes are still under repair or empty, and families worry another intense event could arrive before full recovery. “Here we are in May of 2026 and probably 30% to 40% of the homes in Shore Acres still have not been touched,” Shore Acres resident Kevin Batdorf said.
Community leaders made those concerns front and center at the meeting. “There’s a tremendous amount of people who are still in harm’s way, and we need to fix that,” Barry Rubin, vice president of the Shore Acres Civic Association, said, stressing that recovery and resilience cannot wait. Rubin and other residents pointed to the human cost of delays: temporary housing, interrupted services, and the slow pace of rebuilding that leaves households exposed.
The city presented a first look at a citywide flood vulnerability assessment meant to map how sea-level rise, storm surge, tidal flooding and heavy rainfall might affect public assets over coming decades. The assessment is the opening move in a planning process officials expect to carry on for about a year and a half, with more public workshops and technical studies to follow. City staff are asking for resident input to make sure local experience informs priorities and timelines.
Council member Mike Harting encouraged Shore Acres residents to take part and to weigh in where they feel most vulnerable. “The city is thinking about this and planning for the fact that different things are coming,” Harting said, framing the meetings as a chance for people to shape how resources are spent. Officials emphasized that this is an early stage where feedback can influence both near-term fixes and long-range investments.
At the same time, the city has moved forward on a handful of targeted mitigation projects in flood-prone blocks of Shore Acres, including a new pump station and upgrades aimed at keeping streets and homes from filling during heavy events. Residents welcomed those improvements as practical steps that can reduce immediate hardship while broader strategies are developed. “That’s a great thing, which means we should not have to cease flushing toilets and running water in a next weather event,” Rubin said, pointing to the day-to-day benefits of functioning infrastructure.
Still, many neighbors say the pace of planning and construction feels too slow when recovery is ongoing and the next hurricane season is looming. Rubin warned that long timelines leave people exposed and called for quicker solutions. “There’s no short solution to this,” Rubin said. “They’re looking at 30, 40, 50-year solutions, and that’s unacceptable. We need a solution today.”
Officials say the vulnerability assessment will help prioritize where to invest so limited dollars have the biggest impact, from protecting critical city-owned infrastructure to guiding future policy and zoning choices. In the weeks ahead the city plans to host follow-up sessions, gather technical feedback and refine project lists that could include additional pumps, drainage upgrades and elevation efforts. Residents in Shore Acres are watching those next steps closely and urging the city to match urgency with action as hurricane season approaches.
