Your support helps us to tell the story
A Florida county is warning homeowners about potential dangers from electric vehicles after floodwaters from Hurricane Helene resulted in a house burning down.
The county shared a video on social media showing the moment a Tesla stood in water from the storm caught fire inside a family’s garage.
In footage from a Nest cam, flames spark underneath the car before rapidly growing and the frame soon fills with smoke.
“Electric Vehicles that have been flooded in saltwater can catch fire,” the Pinellas County wrote on X. “If you evacuated and left an electric vehicle or golf cart in your garage or under a building and you are not able to get to it or move it, we want you to let us know.”
The Siesta Key family was in bed when the fire broke out, according to Fox 13 Tampa Bay. The grandchildren, who stayed up past midnight, heard a popping sound and discovered a “fireball.”
As they rushed out of the house, the fire took the structure over in fewer than 15 minutes.
“I’m just glad we’re alive, but everything …We’ve been married 38 years and everything we put into that house,” Lisa Hodges told the station. “We built it for our family and it’s all gone.”
The Sarasota County Fire Department responded to the scene, which had reportedly just undergone a three-year renovation.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis urged electric vehicle owners to get vehicles to higher ground before Helene arrived.
Keeping these vehicles out of water is the best way to avoid the possibility of a fire, and Tesla instructs users to contact first responders if there is smoke, popping or hissing sounds, or heating coming from the vehicle.
When the vehicle is no longer submerged, the company says not to attempt to operate it and to safely tow or move the vehicle at least 50 feet away from structures and other combustible materials.
Hurricane Helene first made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region Thursday night, hitting as a major Category 4 hurricane. The storm has been associated with the deaths of at least 143 people in six states.
Hundreds were reported missing on Monday, although officials in multiple states could not confirm if that had changed on Tuesday.
