The WFSU team took calls from citizens around Big Bend Counties, and officials stationed at Leon’s Emergency Operations Center on a special edition of Perspectives Thursday. The following is a wrap-up of what people are reporting from their respective areas:
Callers from Tallahassee, Gadsden County, Panacea and as far as Panama City checked in with the Perspectives round-table on Thursday’s show. Terrence in Gadsden County recounted watching the storm from his home:
“I just stood and watched from my window as the trees were swaying and that was really strong from about 3 o’clock to about 1 a.m.”
Like most Big Bend Counties, Gadsden was left in the dark.Nearly everyone lost power, and there’s a curfew in place until further notice.
“There’s debris and branches everywhere here in Quincy, and I don’t know anybody that has any power,” Terrence added.
George in Tallahassee called in later in the show to share difficulties the power outage presents to people who have medical needs.
“The one thing that I’m concerned about is my SafeTouch alarm system and my medical alert system are basically useless because they have to be constantly charged,” George said.
City of Tallahassee spokeswoman Carrie Poole says more than 90 percent of Leon County lost power.
“Fifty percent of the city’s electric transmission network is down, so it’s pretty significant,” Poole said. “Six substations are without power. We were able to maintain power to TMH and Capital Regional, as well as power to FSU and FAMU throughout the storm.”
While crews make repairs, Tallahassee Fire Department Jerome Gaines said a number of stations are open to assist.
“We’ve got five stations open: Right now, Station 1 which is down on Adams Street. Station 2 which is on Sharer Road. Station 3, South Monroe. Station 4 which is on Appleyard and Pensacola, and then Station 9 on Thomasville Road. We’re providing water for people, so we’ve got that open. And we also have the Dade Street and the Trousdell Pool facilities open today at 1 o’clock, so people can come in and take showers if they need to, and get refreshed,” Gaines said.
Elsewhere in the Big Bend, Cypress Rudloe from Gulf Specimen Marine Laboratory provided an update on the damage sustained by the lab and throughout Panacea.
“Our dock is pretty much trashed,” Rudloe said. “We took some pretty bad flooding. But overall, everything is still here. Which is just a blessing, because if a (Category) 5 hit here, there wouldn’t be tanks or even fish to save.”
Rudloe did have some encouraging news to report out of Panacea, though:
“Nobody’s lost their house. I know there’s a lot of flooding and issues like that, but I don’t think we’ve seen people who are going to not be able to recover from this, so to speak.”
WFSU will host another special two-hour Perspectives Friday, beginning at 10 a.m.