Coastal communities are trying to get back on their feet. In rural areas, neighbors are helping neighbors and businesses are pitching in. WFSU’s Ryan Dailey was able to get to Eastpoint in time for a community cookout, but he had to take backroads, Going through Highway 20 to 65.
Dailey says he followed a "sizeable caravan" of utility crews and lineman down to Eastpoint.
"I checked in with the sheriffs office here and they told me the Big Top supermarket in Eastpoint was doing a community lunch and i talked with some folks. They said they feel blessed to not have taken as much damage as the Mexico Beach-Panama City area, but they’re all without power.”
Dailey says there are tree and plant debris down, along with roof damage. The Big Top Supermarket got water inside from a storm surge, but the store is up and running.
Navigating coastal highways and even major arteries out west to Bay and Gulf Counties is tricky. A drive that normally takes up to two hours is taking between six-to-nine hours. Motorists are encountering roadblocks on the backroadways as well.
