by CLEARWATER, Fla. – Stephen Bracciale left his home Friday morning and walked the streets of his hurricane-ravaged Pass-a-Grille neighborhood in St. Pete Beach, Florida, looking for a place to charge his phone and iPad.
Bracciale, a 71-year-old diabetic bladder cancer survivor, left his wife of nearly 50 years, their cats and dogs, and the medical supplies he depends on at home, thinking he would return soon. He was wrong.
A neighbor offered to take him for a ride and said he could charge his phone in the car. Bracciale gratefully agreed, knowing it would be difficult to find electricity elsewhere on the barrier island.
But after crossing a bridge with his neighbor, Bracciale’s blood sugar spiked dangerously high. He was rushed to a hospital emergency room and then released into the care of his son, Brandon Bracciale, who lives inland.
A day later, the roads returning to St. Pete Beach are closed and Stephen Bracciale cannot get home for the insulin he needs to control his diabetes and the pouches he needs after his bladder cancer. In the meantime, father and son are desperately looking for places where they can be sold.
“We went all over Tampa trying to find this stuff to make sure he’s okay in the next few days,” Brandon Bracciale said in a Zoom interview from his car, next to his father.
Back at the house, Stephen Bracciale’s 72-year-old wife, Debra, is also stranded, with no running water. The couple’s car is flooded, Stephen Bracciale said, so driving to a place that sells water is not an option.
“So far we have not seen any emergency vehicles transporting water to people who have remained on the island, but hopefully that will happen very soon,” he said.
Despite everything he’s been through, Bracciale says he’s in good spirits.
“I feel fine,” he said. “I was just a little frustrated because I had to run around to find the medical equipment I needed.”
Marissa Parra reported from Clearwater, Florida. Elizabeth Chuck reported from New York.
Kayla McCormick And Carla Kakouris-Solarana contributed.
