One year ago, the JLaca Museum was Destroyed by Hurricane Helene

One year ago, the JLaca Museum was Destroyed by Hurricane Helene

September 26, 2025: Seminole FL:  Exactly one year ago, Hurricane Helene and its powerful 4-5 rating went north past Tampa Bay around 120 miles to the west of it, landing near Perry, Florida in the panhandle.  The winds weren’t too bad in the Tampa Bay area, but the flooding was afterwards.  Manu beach communities were clobbered with 4-5 feet of water in their buildings.  That included the JLaca museum that was built inside a 17-car garage in a flood zone. 

On three separate occasions, the museum was emptied out with storm surge threats, all to no avail.  This time, the storm missed us as usual – but the backflow brought in a storm surge not seen in over 100 years.  It caught everyone off guard, causing billions in damage.  Thousands are still homeless and many businesses like motels, beach bars and restaurants were destroyed forever.       

The museum lost everything in the glass displays and everything under 4 feet was ruined – including the jai alai pinball machine.

You can see the way the how the museum looked like if you weren’t one of the 700 plus visitors that came to see it.  Baseball Hall of Famers Wade Boggs and Fred McGriff were among them by clicking below.

https://pelotapress.com/museum/