“So far I haven’t seen any still standing,” he said. “The whole house got whipped,” the 66-year-old retired Army officer said as he stood on 37th Street, surveying the damage and pointing to empty blocks of rubble that used to be packed with beach condos.Īfter pedaling around town on his beach cruiser, checking his friends’ homes and surveying the damage, Bailey had little good news to report. One of them was Tom Bailey, the town’s former mayor, who took shelter underneath his house as the winds blew off his shingles and ripped off the plywood and roofing rafters. “No words are needed to explain the laid back, easy-going attitude that is our community.”Īdrian Welle, 33, the town’s city clerk who had knocked on doors the afternoon before the hurricane hit, said that about 100 households had planned to ride out the storm. “Welcome to our humble slice of paradise!” the city says on its website. The population from seasonal tourism sometimes soars to 10,000. In Mexico Beach, the city logo is two beach chairs facing the ocean. #flwx #tropics /9WeXTwMSu4- Zach Covey October 11, 2018 Nearly every structure on base suffered roofing damage according to the base commander. Tyndall Air Force Base suffered extreme damage from Hurricane #Michael as it came ashore. The damage around Panama City and Mexico Beach was so extensive that Bay County law enforcement officials blockaded entry for anyone who was not a relief worker. The base had been evacuated before the storm and no injuries were reported. Tyndall Air Force Base, located between Mexico Beach and Panama City, took a “direct hit” from Michael’s landfall, which caused significant structural damage and left the runway’s use still in question, Air Force officials said in a statement. Rick Scott said a “massive” effort was underway to clear roads that had been blocked by fallen trees, branches and power lines, hampering the ground response as aerial and water rescue crews made contact with hard-to-reach areas devastated by the storm. At minimum, it left enormous wind and storm surge damage.įlorida Republican Gov. Michael’s quick progress means it won’t have a chance to trigger the same widespread, epic flooding as past slow-moving hurricanes such as Florence and Harvey, which unleashed seemingly endless rains after stalling and hovering inland. “We will do everything in our power to help those in need, and we will not rest or waver until the job is done and the recovery is complete.” “Our prayers are with those who lost their lives and with their families, and our hearts are with the thousands who have sustained property damage - in many cases, entirely wiped out,” President Trump said in a statement from the White House. Another man was reportedly killed north of Charlotte when a tree fell on his vehicle. The weakened storm was on track to make an expected exit into the Atlantic Ocean by Friday morning after bringing some inland flooding across the Carolinas.Īn 11-year-old girl was reportedly killed by falling debris in Seminole County in southwest Georgia, where the storm maintained hurricane strength while passing through the state, devastating rural farmers’ cotton and pecan crops before sweeping through South Carolina and into North Carolina as a weaker tropical storm. There was silence - except for the blare of a siren and the buzz of a military helicopter above. “Callie!” she cried faintly, cupping her hands over her mouth. “What about that? My palm trees survived and my house didn’t.”Īfter walking in circles around the foundation of her two-car garage, she paused for breath on her neighbor’s deck. “That was where my house was,” she said, pointing to an empty spot with a few palm trees in front of a foundation. She lingered as she passed her neighbor’s gray one-story home - the roof was torn to shreds - then trudged on. “Where are my cats?” she said, making her way in black flip-flops around Fiesta plates and Pyrex bowls and clambering on top of mounds of plywood and roof shingles. Stepping down from her friend’s golf cart, Spann walked gingerly around the canal - piled high with wooden rafters, fridges and bookcases - looking for her cats, Pebbles, Lil’ Willie, Rusty, and Callie, and her neighbor, David.
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