A community forever changed

Oct. 6--PANAMA CITY -- After less than an hour, the people of Bay County found an unrecognizable world of splintered trees and twisted metal that was once their home.

Restoring some resemblance of that world has taken much longer.

The community has spent the past 12 months pulling itself from the rubble, restoring homes, businesses and schools -- all while seeking ways to pay for it all. And yet residents and officials have seemingly just scratched the surface of all that must be done to fully restore what was lost.

Starting Sunday and leading up to the anniversary on Oct. 10 of the Category 5 hurricane, The News Herald will publish a series of five stories to highlight key aspects of recovery and the storm's impact one year later. Those key aspects include housing, education, jobs, tourism and the environment.

PHOTO GALLERIES

Signs of progress after Hurricane Michael

Mexico Beach Then and Now

Aerials of Mexico Beach after Hurricane Michael

Bay County continues to suffer a housing crisis after Michael

FEMA provides housing after Hurricane Michael

School life after Hurricane Michael

NEWS HERALD STAFF

Collin Breaux: using WD-40 to get back in my house

Patrick McCreless: A long walk through a destroyed city

Patti Blake: Sledgehammers, cats and ambulances

Joshua Boucher: Keeping focus during the storm

KATIE LANDECK: Hoping my best was good enough

NEWS STORIES

Introduction: A community forever changed

One year later, the housing crunch is still a major obstacle

Housing

The Category 5 hurricane gashed Bay County, leaving hundreds of crumpled homes and apartment complexes in its wake. Twelve months later and not much has changed for many residents. The thousands who evacuated can't return and those who stayed, but lost their homes, have struggled to find new residences or ones that fit their price range.

But the housing crunch is about much more than the loss of homes. It's permeated nearly every aspect of life in the county, from the economy to tax revenue, education and population. A year later and the problem seems nearly as dire as it did in the early days after the storm. However, progress is being made, with developers launching new projects to restore the county's housing stock and existing apartment complexes showing more signs of life by opening more units.

Meanwhile, area officials say they're working on the issue, developing plans to bring more affordable housing while drawing in state and federal dollars to fund programs to help more people afford rentals and buy homes.

"The most acute impact on our community is our housing stock," Mark McQueen, city manager of Panama City, said about the hurricane.

Education

Like other parts of Bay County and surrounding affected areas, Bay District Schools is recovering from Hurricane Michael nearly a year later.

Campuses are damaged. Faculty and staff are dealing with insurance companies and contractors. Students are navigating mental health issues, changes to their routine and, in some cases, homelessness.

The school system has about $350 million to $400 million in damages to repair and every roof needs to be replaced, which officials estimate will take seven to eight years to do.

And because it lost 2,000 students or 17% of its district-wide enrollment, Bay County "mothballed" three schools and plans to consolidate a middle school and high school. It will put the schools back in operation when the students return.

The Northwest Florida Daily News and Panama City News Herald collaborated to interview students and staff in the education system to get their perspective while dealing with these conditions as the anniversary approached.

Jobs

H.G. Harders & Son has been doing heavy civil and marine construction since 1952, operating under the motto, "get the best people for the job and treat them like the best in the industry."

Since Hurricane Michael, though, just finding people, much less the best among them, has proven difficult for the Panama City-based company, as it seemingly has for most Bay County businesses.

"There's a plethora of work, which is great, but that doesn't do you any good if you don't have the resources to cover what you think you could cover," said Bill Crittenden, who has been with H.G. Harders & Son for 15 years. "The work force is not what it was pre-storm."

The heavy construction industry is not the only one desperate to recruit employees to help grapple with an overwhelming workload.

"It's funny, before the hurricane trying to find the work was harder. Now, I've got plenty of work and I have trouble finding people," said Wesley Best, the owner of Best Cleaning and Lawn Care. "You know the workforce is low when Burger King is offering a sign on bonus."

The primary problem for all of them is that Hurricane Michael decimated the apartments and rental housing that the lower wage workers had counted on, and that has driven many people away.

Tourism

The Bay County tourism industry, like the Gulf beachfront itself, dodged a potentially lethal bullet when Hurricane Michael made landfall a year ago.

"A year out of a Category 5 storm, our visitors are pretty much back," said Dan Rowe, president of the county's Tourist Development Council.

While Mexico Beach lost most of its tourists because of the catastrophic destruction from the winds and storm surge, and visitation in Panama City dropped significantly due to storm-damaged hotels, the core of the tourist industry on the Beach avoided major losses and was able to launch a full spring and summer tourist season on March 1, Rowe said.

"We were pretty lucky," agreed veteran restaurateur Jack Bishop, who owns two Capt. Jack's Family Buffet restaurants on the Beach. His eatery at 12628 Front Beach Road reopened right after the storm. While the second restaurant, further east at 8208 Thomas Drive, suffered several hundred thousand dollars in damage, it too was back in business by mid-February, he said.

Environment

In the record-hot Florida fall of 2018, Hurricane Michael was rabid with hidden energy absorbed from a Gulf of Mexico 4 to 6 degrees warmer than normal.

Air molecules heavy with moisture and sizzle, soared on thunderstorm currents into Michael's eye, releasing latent heat -- an invisible smorgasbord of fuel for the burgeoning cyclone.

Twice, the Category 5 hurricane hit warm pools in its trek toward Florida's Panhandle, downing shots of adrenaline that caused bouts of rapid intensification. One of the surges would keep the storm's engines revving right into the vulnerable shoreline, defying climatology that says hurricanes weaken as they approach the Gulf Coast.

Michael's ascent to the top echelon of tropical cyclones was solid physics, but whether the double-barreled rapid intensification events are directly tied to climate change is muddier.

Multiple factors go into creating a potent Cat 5 storm like Michael.

More nuanced, and less understood, environmental machinations are needed for rapid intensification. Playing a role are warmer waters, a moist atmosphere, a defined inner core, light wind shear and a clockwise flow of air in the upper levels of the atmosphere that helps the hurricane breathe.

There are signals, however, that more Cat 4s and 5s with dangerous escalations will increase in a warming climate, a terrifying prospect for forecasters who still grapple with predicting rapid intensification.

And while there is some debate on the full impact of climate change on the hurricane, what isn't debatable is the destructive mark the storm left on the county's forests and wildlife.

Even a year later, evidence of thousands of bent, snapped and lost trees is plain to see.

"Looking around, it's a lot," Julie McConnell, who works for University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Extension Bay County, said of how many trees were lost. "Even the ones that are standing have sustained some pretty significant damage."

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