Deanna and Steve Knapp waded in calf-high waters while surveying the scene outside their stilted two-story home on Ramada Street in the Weeki Wachee Gardens community.

Debris and garbage cans from neighboring short-term rental properties floated down the road, although the floodwater had receded since Wednesday morning’s high tide. A green and black snake slithered past, disappearing quickly into the marshy grass.

“I don’t know where to start,” said Deanna Knapp, 53. “It’s a big, big mess.”

Unlike many of their neighbors, the Knapps decided not to evacuate. They’d been through Hurricane Hermine, in 2016,which brought about 4 inches of floodwater into their home.

“This (wasn’t) our first rodeo and it won’t be our last,” said Steve Knapp, 54, who said he considers himself a “true Floridian.”

But when the water started rising around 6 a.m. on Wednesday, the couple decided to take their 18-year-old Pomeranian, Minnie, and leave. The water was up to their hips. They grabbed their kayaks and a few coolers with food and didn’t return until later in the afternoon.

Steve Knapp estimated the downstairs of his home took about 14 to 16 inches of water.

Still, he said, he considers himself lucky.

“We could have been ground zero,” he said. “Then it would’ve been all gone.”

Many residents of Weeki Wachee Gardens evacuated prior to the storm and had not yet returned as of Wednesday afternoon.

Over on Westwind Street, Tim Beach worked quietly and alone, clearing out Christmas decorations, family photos and furniture from the downstairs of his teal stilted house.

Wearing Busch Light shorts and drinking a Busch Light, Beach, 54, said Wednesday was just the second time in 25 years his property had flooded.

Like others in the area, Beach said the water came fast, accompanying the early morning high tide.

“At 6:30 a.m., it was just on the deck and an hour later it was under my house,” he said. “It kept coming up and coming up.”

Beach said his bottom floor took on about 16 inches of water, much more than the nine inches that followed Hurricane Irma in 2017.

He decided not to evacuate when it looked like Idalia’s path had veered further west.

“I thought things would be safe in there,” he said. “But then things started floating.”

• • •

Tampa Bay Times hurricane coverage 2023

What to do if your house floods from Hurricane Idalia

Hurricane floodwater can be dangerous. Here’s why you should stay out of it.

Hurricane season 2023: Here’s what to know about forecast tracks.

Storm surge is deadly. We built a computer model to show how.

How to protect your pets — and yourself — during a hurricane.

Major disaster declarations have been approved from areas as far north as Citrus and Hernando counties and as far south as Pinellas County

WEEKI WACHEE GARDENS, Fla. — Clean-up and debris pick-up is ongoing in hard-hit areas of Tampa Bay from Hurricane Idalia.

Several counties are still recovering from flooding and damage from the storm in the area from the Shore Acres neighborhood in St. Petersburg to communities around Weeki Wachee. Debris and trash pickup began in the last week in areas like Citrus and Hernando counties, but more progress needs to be made for some.

"I was shocked. I knew we were gonna have a little wind but it came so fast here," Summer Newmann of Palm Grove Colony, a neighborhood in Weeki Wachee Gardens, described the storm.

Remnants of the hurricane still remain as more dirt and debris sit in front of people's yards ready for pick-up, along with beds, couches and all sorts of cabinets no longer of use.

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However, Newmann explained most of the debris has been hauled off due to efforts from the community to help each other out.

"Everybody's family around here. That's what's so special. You hardly see a house for sale because no one wants to leave the neighborhood," Newmann said.

Those like Trisa Ellis said she spent part of the day shopping for new furniture. Walls need to be repaired and belongings had to be thrown out as a result of the storm, Ellis explained.

Her family moved from Colorado during the pandemic and said it was their first time having experienced flooding from a hurricane.

"We still would not trade this life for anything," Ellis said. "There's a price for paradise."

In Pasco and Hernando counties, the Federal Emergency Management Agency is now reimbursing for the collection, but local leaders said time is of the essence to get that debris to the curb. Both for the federal funds and public health.

“That wood, that drywall, that carpeting, that flooring is all going to turn into mold. Mildew. It will start to deteriorate and smell, and we just want to clean it up as fast as we can for the residents to make it as safe as possible for them,” Hernando County Emergency Management Director David DeCarlo said.

While just about every area is picking up debris, some are handling it differently when it comes to hazardous materials.

If you have paint, chemicals, batteries and those sorts of things that need to be disposed of, check with your individual county to see whether they'll be picking up those materials as well or whether you need to bring them to them.

Earlier last week, the Crystal River mayor said it'll take a couple of rounds before the city can remove all the debris brought curbside. It'll take businesses and homeowners weeks to recover, possibly longer if there are delays from insurance.

And see photos of that time Elvis showed up

By CJ Lotz Diego

January 9, 2023

Photo: Courtesy of Bonnie Georgiadis

Ever since it opened in 1947, the charmingly kitschy Weeki Wachee Springs, which is now a state park that sits an hour and a half west of Orlando, has been holding its own among those other Florida attractions you may have heard of. For one thing, it’s got mermaids. For another, the mermaids swim and dance in crystal-clear water fed by an ancient spring.

“The setting itself is what makes this place magical,” says John Athanason, a specialist with Florida’s Adventure Coast Tourism Bureau who has worked with the park for more than twenty years. “It’s not a girl swimming in a tank. When you’re sitting inside the theater and the curtain rises and you see this beautiful spring, you’re awestruck. There’s no other theater like it in the entire world.”

Besides the acrobatic mermaids pirouetting underwater while catching their breath with hookah-like air tubes, there’s the real possibility that a manatee might crash a live show—I’ve seen it. The performers made way for the friendly giant, spinning alongside it while we audience members, separated from the spring by a giant wall of glass, shrieked in delight from our subterranean seats.

To mark seventy-five years of such memories, Weeki Wachee is throwing an anniversary party this week. On January 12, Florida’s Adventure Coast Visitors Bureau will unveil the Mermaid Tale Trail, which features twenty-seven mermaid statues, hand-painted by regional artists, placed throughout nearby Brooksville and surrounding Hernando County. Local officials will also dedicate the park and the towering Adagio statue out front as National Historic Landmarks. One of the original mermaids, Dianne Wyatt McDonald, whose pose inspired the famed statue, also plans to attend the party. (Now in her nineties, McDonald shared her recollections of the park in an entertaining interview here).

“Whenever I sink beneath the surface of that beautiful water, I don’t want to get out again,” another mermaid, Vicki Smith, told me when she was seventy-eight and still performing. “There’s a freedom there. The movement of the current feels like silk wrapping you, and the bubbles become silver pearls all around.”

Performers, travelers, Floridians, and stars alike have found inspiration at Weeki Wachee. Visitors to the park can swim in the sandy-bottomed springs, refreshed by water that stays a mild seventy-two degrees year-round. Elvis Presley himself made time to visit Weeki Wachee in 1961 when he was filming Follow That Dream in Florida. Three thousand fans turned up, and as these photos show, the setting worked its magic on Presley.

Find more information about Weeki Wachee memories—and the anniversary festivities here.

Last month, Weeki Wachee State Park updated its management plan. Soon after, an environmental advocate filed a complaint saying the plan was improperly approved.

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WEEKI WACHEE GARDENS, Fla. — Is the Florida Department of Environmental Protection doing enough to preserve the Weeki Wachee State Park portion of the Weeki Wachee River? A recently filed complaint says they're not.

The complaint was made against the recently updated state park management plan. The plan is updated every 10 years and is supposed to go through an approval process with an advisory committee and public input.

Shannon Turbeville sits on the advisory committee.

"The advisory committee is very important because it consists of taxpayers," Turbeville said. "And this is public land that belongs to the taxpayers."

He said steps were skipped in approving the updated plan. A preliminary meeting was held with the advisory committee. Turbeville said his committee was waiting on the findings of the Weeki Wachee Natural System Carry Capacity Study. This study was launched "to collect and analyze data that relates human use to water quality, hydrologic, geomorphic, or ecological degradation of the river. The study area spanned from the headspring at Weeki Wachee Springs State Park to Rogers Park," the updated management plan said.

"The only meeting they ever had was a public meeting," Turbeville said. "My allegation is that they did not, per statute, develop this plan with input from an advisory committee. It would appear the Florida Department of Environmental Protection is merely attempting to check a statutory checkbox."

His concerns go beyond how the plan was passed. The updated management plan repeatedly highlighted how people exit their kayaks or paddleboards in areas they're not supposed negatively impact the shorelines.

There are laws in place that prohibit paddlers from exiting their vessels along the river. Turbeville's complaint against the plan is the laws prohibiting this from happening are not enforced.

He submitted a request with FWC to learn how many citations were issued to people for violating this law in the summer months of 2020.

"There were no citations that appeared to reflect enforcement of 62D of administrative code," he said.

The impact of breaking this rule has on the river? It makes it wider and more shallow.

"What's happening is the organic sedimentation, from people trampling it, is being transported downriver naturally following the stream and it's accumulating," Turbeville explained.

Credit: FL DEP

According to the study, some areas of the park suffered as much as an estimated 30 percent vegetation loss in square feet.

Outlined in the updated management plan is how the park will enforce rules to ensure rules are adhered to. Signage is up at the state park now, telling paddlers to not exit their vessels, to not trample on vegetation, and not climb on trees or swing on ropes.

DEP's plan said it will continue to work with FWC to monitor river activity and to consider establishing cameras in known problem areas.

Credit: FL DEP

Weeki Wachee State Park limits how many paddlers are allowed to launch each day to 280 vessels. This limitation is included in the updated management plan.

10 Tampa Bay reached out to FL DEP to learn how complaints are handled, if a change to the management plan would be considered, and why advisory board meetings were not held before the new plan was adopted. We are awaiting their response.

It could be the opening scene of a comedic summer vacation movie.

A family with a young son travels to Florida and arrives in the parking lot of an attraction the boy is eager to see: Weeki Wachee, renowned for its underwater mermaid shows.

When the boy’s parents glimpse statues of what seemed to be naked woman — mermaids — near the Weeki Wachee entrance, they react with shock and abruptly drive away.

That childhood incident left Doug Alderson yearning to visit not only Weeki Wachee but other also the other classic tourist attractions of Florida he missed as a boy, when his parents instead carted him and two brothers to museums and cultural entities.

Alderson has just published “A New Guide to Old Florida Attractions: From Mermaids to Singing Towers.” The last part of the title celebrates Bok Tower Gardens, an enduring attraction in Lake Wales.

The book also devotes several pages to Cypress Gardens, one of Florida’s initial tourist spots in Winter Haven, and its successor, Legoland Florida Resort.

Alderson, who lives near Tallahassee, said he wanted to bring attention to Florida’s pre-Disney tourism ventures, describing those that still exist as well as others — such as Six Gun Territory and Floridaland — that have vanished.

Though Walt Disney World and its technologically advanced rivals dominate the tourism scene in Florida, Alderson said more sedate attractions such as Bok Tower Gardens exert a nostalgic appeal.

“I think it’s kind of like going to some of these action movies that are nonstop and you almost feel exhausted by the end of the movie,” Alderson said of the modern theme parks. “Sometimes you want to watch an old movie that has more of a plot and it’s a little slower.”

Alderson, 59, said he first visited Florida at age 9 and his family moved to Tallahassee two years later. Alderson, who works for Florida’s Office of Greenways and Trails, has written several other Florida books on historical and recreational themes, including “New Dawn for the Kissimmee River,” an account of paddling on the waterway that borders Polk County.

He said he spent about two years on “A New Guide to Old Florida Attractions.”

Alderson surveys defunct attractions before devoting most of the book to places that still exist. He writes about springs-oriented attractions that have been rescued through state acquisition, such as Silver Springs, and perennially popular reptile outposts, such as Gatorland in Orlando.

Bok Tower Gardens receives an eight-page spread stocked with color photos, and an image of attraction’s “singing tower” appears on the book’s cover.

As a collector of vintage Florida postcards, Alderson said Bok Tower Gardens is well represented in cards from the 1930s through 1950s. The attraction opened in 1929, drawing the presence of President Calvin Coolidge at the dedication ceremony.

Alderson toured Bok Tower Gardens while researching the book and had the rare privilege of ascending the tower to watch carillonneur Geert D’hollander play the keyboard instrument connected to a set of 60 bells. The gentle peals of the daily recitals give the Singing Tower its identity.

Edward Bok, the attraction’s wealthy founder, created a financial trust that has enabled Bok Tower Gardens to persist even as most tourists gravitate toward the showier attractions in the Orlando area. Alderson, who interviewed Bok Tower Gardens President David Price for the book, said he was impressed to see the entity not just surviving but continuing to enhance its offerings.

“Their attendance is going up,” Alderson said. “It may not be at the level it was in the heyday, but it’s going up. I think they have staying power into the future. That’s what impressed me about several of these attractions; they seem to have some staying power.”

Alderson headlines one of the book’s chapters, “Mixing Old and New at Legoland.” Cypress Gardens arose from water ski shows starting in the 1930s and became a seminal tourist site with international renown.

The park’s attendance declined in the post-Disney era, though, and after a few changes of ownership it closed for good in 2009. Merlin Entertainments bought the property and transformed it into Legoland Florida, a kid-oriented park that opened in 2010.

The 30 acres of botanical gardens that defined Cypress Gardens are protected by a public trust and remain open to visitors of Legoland Florida Resort.

The Cypress Gardens chapter includes images from vintage post cards and brochures, along with new photos of elements from Legoland. During his research, Alderson interviewed Legoland officials and Bob Gernert, the retired executive director of the Winter Haven Chamber of Commerce and the volunteer historian of Cypress Gardens.

Alderson devotes attention to other classic attractions still around in at least some form, among them Marineland near St. Augustine, Sunken Gardens in St. Petersburg and Goofy Golf in Panama City.

The book is published by Pineapple Press, a Sarasota-based outfit founded in 1982 by June and David Cussen. Demi Brown, a publishing assistant, said Alderson’s book was a natural addition to the small publisher’s lineup.

“We’ve published quite a few travel guides already in the form of nature guides, walking tours and bicycling to historical guides, and none of them has the fun and exciting feeling that this manuscript did when we got it,” Brown said. “”There’s so much love for all the old attractions, but not a lot of people know that they’re there. So we felt it was important to give them a little press.”

— Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. He blogs about tourism at http://tourism.blogs.theledger.com. Follow on Twitter @garywhite13.