PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — It’s that time of year when Heather Wendt’s family home in Crystal Beach usually becomes merry and bright.

“For us, it’s always been an important thing,” she said. “My normal is that I look like a Hallmark movie in my house.”

But this year, it’s also a horror film, after Hurricane Helene.

Three months after the house was flooded, it is still gutted and waiting to be repaired.

In fact, Wendt still doesn’t know if she can fix it. And to top it all off, Pinellas County has now called the house “significantly damaged” in a letter Wendt received weeks ago.

“I called my husband and told him, ‘We got a major damage letter,'” Wendt said. “My husband said it was a good thing, but I told him it wasn’t a good thing.”

The letter from Pinellas County said her Crystal Beach home was so damaged that to comply with FEMA’s so-called 50 percent rule, she had to either raise it, demolish it or move it.

Wendt showed up at a Pinellas County Commission board meeting Tuesday to share her frustration — and she wasn’t alone.

“They’re ruining people’s lives,” another Crystal Beach homeowner, John Richter, said of the letters.

They are furious that the letters sent offer little detail or explanation as to why their homes were deemed significantly damaged.

The homeowners are also furious that inspectors did not enter their home before determining it had been significantly damaged. According to the county, inspectors measured the high water mark outside homes and entered it into a FEMA calculator to determine whether a home had been significantly damaged.

At Tuesday’s meeting, the county acknowledged that the determinations are not an exact science and Wendt believes his situation is proof of that.

She said that although 4 feet of water surrounded the exterior of her house during Helene, only about a foot of floodwater entered her house.

“We are appalled by what is happening and that we have to live through this,” Wendt told commissioners.

Kevin McAndrew, director of building and development review services for the county, said more than a thousand Pinellas County homes in total are on track to receive significant damage letters in the coming weeks , but that this number will decrease.

Pinellas County

Landlords can appeal decisions and, more immediately, request a reassessment.

Reassessments will look at homes that have been significantly damaged in a more granular manner. Homeowners will be allowed to submit photos and documents, and a construction cost estimator, property appraiser and certified floodplain manager will review the information to determine whether the significant damage determination should be overturned.

Pinellas County

“If you get an initial determination of substantial damages, continue the reassessment,” McAndrew urged.

Wendt initiates this process.

“We will fight as much as possible,” she said.

However, there is no guarantee that she will win this fight and that she will be able to rebuild herself.

“You go through the motions of what should I do next?” she said. “I don’t even know where to go with this. I can’t sit here and tear this house down just because the county says so.

To learn more about Pinellas County’s reassessment and appeals process, click here.