State News

Taylor County: 1 year after Hurricane Idalia

WFSU | By Adrian Andrews

Published August 30, 2024 at 11:55 AM EDT

Pick up trucks and debris lie strewn in a canal in Horseshoe Beach, Fla., after the passage of Hurricane Idalia, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023.

For the past year, local officials and businesses in Taylor County, have been working to recover what’s been lost and then some.

It’s been one year since the Category 3 storm made landfall near Keaton Beach and there’s still some visible reminders of that storm.

David and Leslie Hall own Spring Warrior Fish Camp in nearby Perry. They say since Hurricane Idalia, business has been a bit unpredictable.

“We were out of power for two weeks, and still had cleanup the whole rest of the month in September," David said in an interview Wednesday.

During a tour of the place, Leslie said that her business attracts hundreds of fishermen from across the Big Bend to the area. They all come here to fish or hunt for scallops in a nearby creek.

“It was so busy out here. There was no place to park, the place was full. And then…storms," she said.

Last year, conditions were so bad after the storm, that Leslie and her husband had no choice but to temporarily close down, which meant no money was being made.

“We still had people who were calling and asking if they could come," explained Leslie. "And we were like, you can’t even get a vehicle down here. The roads were blocked. It was really bad.”

The Hall’s say they spent $10,000 replacing roofs and installing a new fish cleaning station that Idalia destroyed.

Spring Warrior Fish Camp is now back up and running, and David says it’s here to stay.

“We’re just taking it one day at a time. We’re letting our customers know that we’re back open. We haven’t gone anywhere. The storms couldn’t take us out. We’ll be here for many years, I hope," said David.

Georgia Pacific shut down the Foley Cellulose papermill in November 2023. Georgia Pacific said its decision to close had nothing to do with the storm. The plant has been a pillar in the city of Perry since the 1950s. Adrian Andrews/WFSU

But what about Perry’s lumber industry?
Dawn Perez is the executive director for the Taylor County Tourism Development Council. Her team is working to recover jobs and bring more money back to the county, amid the post-hurricane closure of two major job creators in the area.

“Everyone is sorta scrambling around—just trying to do whatever we can to try to move forward and help the community," Perez explained.

West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. blames high fiber costs and a softening lumber market in Perry for the mill closure. The company let go 126 employees last January but kept the facility open with a limited staff. As of Friday, no one is working at the facility. April 2, 2024 (WFSU/Adrian Andrews)

Georgia-Pacific closed its papermill in November of 2023. Then the West Fraser mill laid off 126 employees, before closing its sawmill facility in Perry this past March.

Both closures came just months after Idalia hit the area. And before the area could fully get back on its feet, Hurricane Debbie struck just this past month.

“Following the decision in January 2023 to indefinitely curtail the Perry Sawmill in Florida, which saw a small crew kept onsite to maintain the mill, West Fraser is now moving to permanently close the mill by the end of March. The few remaining workers will complete their last shifts this week. The equipment will then be assessed for use elsewhere."

Joyce Wagenaar, Director of Communications, West Fraser

Perez says officials have been going over plans that would improve Perry’s downtown area and bring more retail stores to the community in an effort to stem the effects of the job losses.

“Everyone’s got their little piece of the pie that they’re working on and everyone is working really hard to see that Perry survives this…and we will," Perez stated.

A home which came off its blocks sits partially submerged in a canal in Horseshoe Beach, Fla., Friday, Sept. 1, 2023, two days after the passage of Hurricane Idalia. Nearly all the experts think 2024 will be one of the busiest Atlantic hurricane seasons on record.

For education, the Taylor County School District is undergoing a $10.1 million repair and replacement project. The district is using part of the money to put a new roof on Taylor County High School after Idalia destroyed it.

“A hurricane can knock down trees, but it shouldn’t knock down someone’s dreams," said John Grosskopf, the President of North Florida College.

A month before Idalia hit, the institution opened a facility in Perry. It’s the only campus in Taylor County, and Grosskopf says after Idalia, the school made sure their students had access to academic support and were fed thanks to food drives.

A team from the @FLCollegeSystem joined President John Grosskopf at North Florida College to offer support and deliver needed supplies as their community recovers from Hurricane #Idalia. pic.twitter.com/JcP0rGbJhu
— Florida Department of Education (@EducationFL) September 6, 2023

“That Idalia event really helped us shake out a lot of dead wood from some of our operations. It gave us a fresh perspective on the extent of current needs and how vulnerable this rural part of the state was to quick change.”

Perry residents say they’re hoping this past year will soon be behind them. And they’re looking forward to something better this year.