Are some homes turning backyards into unprotected Helene debris dumps ahead of Milton?

Screenshot via Facebook (Kelly Johnson).

How much storm debris in Tampa Bay is making it to dumps and what’s ending up in people’s backyards? A House candidate in Dunedin shared video of one resident piling roadside trash in a fenced backyard, but open to the elements.

Kelly Johnson, a Democrat running in House District 47, posted the image of piled high garbage as Hurricane Milton threatens Florida’s Gulf Coast.

“I present you with a view of my backyard neighbors from my upstairs window,” Johnson wrote on Facebook. “This is a property I asked for help on last night when I figured out they were dumping household waste. The police couldn’t do anything. Code enforcement is not calling me back. This is your city of Dunedin.”

The home had parts of furniture, mattresses and other trash in the backyard. Johnson said she knew neighbors had been collecting garbage in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

“I heard the trucks moving stuff, and dumb me thought they were moving all this debris out of the neighborhood,” she said. “Then I looked over the fence and thought, ‘Oh my gosh.’”

She first heard from another neighbor who suspected garbage was being stored on property, not being taken to a local dump. Johnson and others called law enforcement but have not been able to get a response.

A call to the listed phone number at the address with the garbage did not go through. The property is owned by Carolyn White, according to county property records.

City officials said debris should be left curbside, and that local and state government officials and the Federal Emergency Management Agency have worked to clean up debris.

But it also appears unlikely anything will be done about gathered debris on private properties before Milton makes landfall. Current forecasts have the storm tracking toward Tampa Bay and making landfall on the Gulf Coast early Thursday morning.

“It’s going to be there for awhile,” Dunedin Mayor Julie Ward Bujalski said in a Facebook response to Johnson’s video.

The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office said deputies would look into the situation. The law enforcement agency referred any questions about debris removal and handling to the county.

The concerns come as the state and county publicly battle about debris removal. The Florida Highway Patrol on Monday broke into a Pinellas County solid waste disposal site. County officials said the state commandeered the facility, but Gov. Ron DeSantis called it the right move after he issued an executive order requiring round-the-clock access to such facilities.