Hello.

I'm Jason Acuna, producer of The Speaking of Radio Hour, and I'm joined today by our interim news director, Regan McCarthy.

Hey, Jason.

So what are we speaking of today?

Today we are speaking of tornadoes.

Yes.

And we're taping this episode before our live studio audience just before the May 10th anniversary of the tornadoes that hit last year.

Many members of our community saw significant damage and are still struggling to recover.

And then I have to get my house mold checked.

I have to get the walls repainted.

They have to rip down my walls because of mold, probably.

Water was pouring through my electrical.

We're going to hear from some of those people who are still rebuilding.

Take a trip to Railroad Square with Tom About Town, and learn from experts about how to be better prepared.

And we're doing it all live in front of our studio audience.

Oh, can't wait to listen.

You are listening to Speaking Of, by WFSU Public Media.

Tornadoes can be traumatic experiences, one moment a storm is blowing in just like any other Floridian day-and the next your phone is going off with alerts, sirens are blaring, and it sounds like a freight train is outside your house.

After a tornado, there is often widespread damage, but no one should have to pick up the pieces alone.

Gina Jordan is hosting a discussion with stories from our live studio audience about the lasting effects and damage caused by the May 10th tornadoes.

Hi, I'm Gina Jordan, morning Edition host here at WFSU Public Media.

And today we are speaking of the Tallahassee tornadoes.

It's been about a year since storms and tornadoes ripped through our community, leaving a deep scar in some parts.

And Regan McCarthy takes us back to the days following those storms.

Let's listen.

It came out of nowhere.

First thing in the morning, people are laying in their beds, not prepared and all of the sudden their roof is ripped off.

If we can get everybody out helping, we can recover be more resilient for the next storms that hit us.

With the Power out around Leon County and Tallahassee, We did what we had to do.

Those are the voices of Lorin Brand, Alistair Rowe and Sharon Carraway.

They talked with WFSU reporters last year as they worked to recover from the storms and offered help to others in the community.

One area that got hit especially hard is the Mystic Woods condo complex off Pensacola Street.

Lynn Hatter visited residents there in the days after the storm while many were still trying to dig out from under downed trees and powerlines.

Many of the units have trees through the roofs.

On the day we visited some residents were loading up U-Hauls with the remnants of their belongings.

Standing outside of the building a semi crushed car is Chris who didn't give his last name.

This storm, he told them apart.

So I'm just waiting for them to come pick it up and then select assess the damages and then go from there and figure out that the settlement and dock to try to get another car.

He points across the parking lot to building 1000, which has a large pine tree that's carved through the first floor of it.

Some of these units, they have electricity and stuff on.

But our unit is not going to use it because how bad is it being damaged.

Are you in this one?

I think 1012 here at Mystic Woods, many people are renters and some, like Keith Neely, don't have renter's insurance or anywhere to go.

You know, I just pay my rent.

I'm just trying to figure out how to get assistance.

You know, we need some assistance in that setting, is what it is.

Do you know what that is today?

Residents at mystic would say recovery is still a long way off.

Catherine Helms owns one of the condo units.

She says five trees fell on her home during the storm.

Now, I mean, here it's a year later.

I'm living with my aunt at her house, and living in her bedroom.

Just a small little bedroom.

Helm says her home still isn't habitable, in part because of what she says are ongoing insurance issues.

She says every condo owner at Mystic Woods is on the hook for thousands of dollars to repair damage to the exterior of the buildings.

And then there's the inside.

I have to get my house mold checked.

I have to get the walls repainted.

They have to rip down my walls because of mold.

Probably.

Water is pouring through my electrical.

So it's it's pretty damaged.

The move means Helms has been forced to significantly reduce her small business that she used to run out of her home, making money tight as she stares down what looks to be a long road to recovery.

It's a road.

She's not traveling alone.

As many residents in Tallahassee say, they're still experiencing impacts from last year's storm.

So Indian Head Acres community, that was very hard hit.

And I'm joined now by three people who were in that community when this happened.

We have Sarah O'Neil, Linda Marie Cossa, and Gordon Magill So an EF two tornado tore through there, changed the look of the neighborhood, damaged trees, damaged structures.

Were you all home when it hit?

Yes.

Yes yes, yes.

Did you have a sense that something was coming, or did you think it was a normal storm that was happening?

Well, we didn't have any warning.

No radios on.

No.

No phone on.

And it was about quarter of seven in the morning, and we woke up.

It was raining hard and the wind was blowing harder and harder, and suddenly it was on us.

Yeah.

And, it was like being in the midst of a whiteout, snowstorm.

You couldn't see anything.

Well, yeah.

And so you two were in the same house when this happened.

But I remember you telling me that your experience was different.

What was your experience?

Well, I thought I was dreaming, you know, it was.

And.

Oh, we jumped out of bed.

And right there, we have five windows in in our bedroom and 27 windows in our whole house.

But I looked out and it was fascinating.

I, I thought it was beautiful, but I thought, oh, this seems like a tsunami or something.

You know, and then I got really scared because I heard what I thought were gunshots, because the trees were snapping so quickly and the transformers were, you know, I was traumatized by the sound.

And then I realized, no, it's not that there's something else going on here.

I mean, wind and water and trees were beautifully going horizontal, you know?

Yeah.

It was like a dream.

And so I, I went I just started to follow the tornado.

I went to each window and around the house and I followed it.

And I kept saying, please stop, please stop.

And it did.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

And then in the back of the house, there was this beautiful sight of a huge pine tree that I have always loved and everything.

And it came down cracked.

But it was it stopped short of demolishing our storage unit, and it was held in the arms of a magnolia tree.

Oh my God.

And I it was beautiful in this very dreamlike thing going weird.

Dreamlike.

Yeah.

I became that tornado or I followed it and that's it to please stop.

Yeah, yeah.

But it showed how trees take care of themselves.

Yeah.

In Indiana.

Right?

Right, right.

Now, Sarah, you're.

You were renting a home at the time, and that home was essentially destroyed.

Is that correct?

Yeah.

That's right.

And I, I did have a warning ahead of time, actually.

I had woken up and I wasn't sure what time it was.

I don't know why I was awake.

I had just woken up and, I went to check my phone to see what time it was.

And I had a text from my mom who doesn't live in the neighborhood but had heard about the tornado, and she texted me and my brother.

My brother also lives in Indian Head.

And she texted us that there was a tornado and we needed to take shelter.

And I literally responded, But I'm sleeping in the night.

I just didn't take it seriously because I've been in Tallahassee my whole life and never seen anything from a tornado, not damage that we saw, you know, or even in town, like sort of centrally in town.

So I kind of continued to lay in bed, and then the alert went off on my phone and my partner's phone warning about the tornado.

And I still was just not really I mean, you know, for better or for worse, I was not taking it very seriously.

And I open the window in our bedroom, which is behind our heads, and was just kind of looking outside.

And it was it was pretty calm out.

And I remember hearing the birds and, all of a sudden I heard you know, some people describe tornado sounding like a train.

And, what I was hearing was like a low hum, very far away.

I could almost I it was, I almost couldn't hear it, but I heard a low hum and I was still feeling fine.

And and then I was listening, listening closely and it was getting louder and louder and the wind started picking up.

And that's when I jumped out of bed and was like, we got to get in the hallway.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And you had a bunch of trees on the house?

Well, actually, it was just one huge pine tree.

We had several trees down, in the yard, but it was a massive, like, old growth pine that came down, on the living room, dining room, and part of the kitchen as well.

So basically, half of the house, if not more than half of the house, is absolutely terrifying.

So you, you had mentioned that you you pretty much lost everything.

Yeah.

Well, in some ways, we got really lucky.

But, so, my partner and I, we play music, and we had, we had that, that week we had brought out all of our music equipment into the living room because we were playing a lot of music and kind of just, you know, hanging out in there.

So we had, you know, all of our music equipment in the, in the living room as well as, you know, of course, couch record player records, books.

And I had actually done like, a huge I was just kind of like in a cleaning mode.

And I had done, a huge load, like multiple loads of laundry of my clothing.

So pretty much everything that I own and where usually I had folded on the dining room table that evening, the evening before, and I was tired and I was like, oh, just put it away in the morning.

So all of my clothes, like, I really didn't have many clothes, were in there as well as shoes.

We have a shoe rack at the front, so all of my shoes, minus this, like old ratty pair of, water boots, like rain boots that I had in the closet.

So, yeah, it was mostly all of my things were in there.

My computer, my work phone.

Yeah.

My instruments, the things that matter.

Yeah.

And so, were you all able to stay in your home?

Oh, sure.

Yeah.

Yeah, we were lucky we didn't have enormous damage.

We had a tree on one end of the house, but that that was easily repairable.

But, getting going outside was a shock because I've.

We've been in Indian head for about six years and we've seen some hurricane damage, including from Michael, but I had never seen damage like and tree fall like that day on May 10th.

And, you know, you didn't recognize anybody's home or or the streets.

Yeah, yeah.

Driving past there it is.

There's no question something significant happened right there.

Yeah.

And Sarah, you obviously had to get out of that home.

Tell us about your housing situation since then.

Yeah.

So, first we stayed with my aunt and cousin for maybe a week and a half.

And and mind you, we have no access to everything in the house.

Like, we can't get in there.

Actually, my, my partner had tried to go into the living room to to grab, my guitar, which was a very sweet, and a piece of the sheet rock from the roof fell on his foot, and we thought his foot was broken.

And so we were really stranded in the house.

And that moment, but, we once we were able to get out of the neighborhood, which took hours to get out, we went to the hospital, and then we stayed with my aunt and cousin for maybe a week and a half, two weeks.

And and then we stayed with a friend who lives in the neighborhood.

She hosted us for a couple of weeks.

And, you know, that was wonderful.

Such support in that way.

But also challenging to not really have a space that's your own, you know?

Yeah.

Yeah.

And then we were able to, get a short term rental, a six month rental, because we were thinking the house would be.

We were thinking the house would be fixed by the end of that six months.

And, it is still I think it still has not been put on the rental market.

There's still like, it's been fixed, but there's still needing to do cleaning and that sort of thing.

Yeah.

A year later.

Yeah, yeah.

So, Gordon and Linda Marie, you were able to stay put, and I know that you hung out with some neighbors.

You got together and made the the best of what you could.

You had a cookout that night?

Yeah.

Power was out throughout the whole neighborhood.

There was no power.

So, one of our our friends in Indian had had, brought down a big grill to Optimus Park that evening.

And word went out that everybody should take their whatever food they wanted to share out of their refrigerators, because there was no power it was going to spoil, bring it down to Optimus Park.

And we'd have a we'd have a neighborhood grill, which we did, and it was great.

Yeah.

There were about 50 people there.

And everybody shared what they had.

Fantastic.

And, Sarah, you had to get some help.

You mentioned that you got some help from the Red cross.

Yes.

The Red cross set up at Optimus Park.

It's hard for me to remember the timeline.

Everything was really overwhelming, during that time, but I think it was in the first week after.

After it happened.

And so we when we went down to Optimus Park and, they essentially had us fill out, like a survey, and like, immediately, based on our responses, gave us a $500, like, debit card essentially to, you know, with some guidelines on what they'd want us to use it for.

As far as replacing things.

Yeah.

So we got help that way, and then we also got, FEMA help.

That took a bit of time.

I mean, I guess in the big picture, we got financial help pretty quickly.

But, when you've lost everything, it you really do need help right there.

Right then in that moment.

Yeah.

So I'm appreciative of the help.

It was just really hard until until we were able to, to get, FEMA support.

It maybe took about two months to get support from FEMA.

And they came out and surveyed the house twice prior to to sending the aid.

Yeah.

If you had to do it again, would you get renter's insurance?

Yes.

Well, what's funny is, our lease stipulated that we had to have renter's insurance.

But because, the the person renting to us was a friend, they knew that we were, we were just needed a month or two to recover.

And we had just looked at renter's insurance, like, truly four days before this happened, and we were like, oh, we'll sign up.

Like, you know, just totally we did not.

Yeah.

So yes.

Yeah.

Answers.

Yes.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We never think it's going to happen.

And those tornadoes were just shocking.

They were just unprecedented.

So what would you say.

And I'll ask this of all of you, what was the most difficult for you in the days after what what has been the most difficult for you since then?

Well, I think, in our case, it was just cleaning up the mess so we could operate around the house.

And I have to say, there was an incredible response from the city utilities from, from tree crews that came in quickly, almost overnight, from as far away as Georgia and North Carolina.

There were, organizations, some Christian organizations there, like good Samaritans that were volunteering.

But to just get the neighborhood operable so you could move through the streets without going over power lines and and fallen trees took about two weeks.

Yeah.

We were lucky we, we had, I had my little Coleman stove.

We cooked, we I made Linda Marie some short ribs on the Coleman stove for Mother's Day dinner.

Oh, nice.

And, we, we made do.

We were out of power for about eight days, and then we got, internet back in about 20 days.

But it took an enormous amount of coordination and volunteerism to do it.

Yeah, yeah.

Sarah, what about you?

What's been the hardest part?

Yeah, I think, I think initially in the aftermath, I mean, there so many hard parts.

It's, it's hard to narrow it down, but I think that because we were fully displaced from the neighborhood, a lot of the supports and groups that were forming in the neighborhood, like, you know, the the barbecue you had in the park, you know, we weren't there.

And so it was hard to not participate in and be part of community who were also experiencing the same things.

We were, that was really hard.

And, yeah.

And then I think, you know, a year later, I think what's hard is that I still have really extreme reactions to weather.

Like, I mean, yeah, definitely dealing with PTSD when the wind blows.

I get nervous when we when I hear about severe weather, any time there's any mention of a tornado possibility.

I'm in the bathroom.

Yeah.

You know, with the doors.

Understandable.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Linda Marie and Gordon, you, organized something in October.

It was, like a trauma recovery situation.

And you've also both written poems to to help you.

So I'd like to ask you to tell us about the, the neighborhood gathering that you organized for the trauma recovery first.

Yeah, well, it started with the idea of what do I do now?

You know, I I'm the thing that bothered me the most was, losing trees.

I love them, and we had to have four more trees removed.

But I was so impressed with the, the tree guys who came in.

They were so gentle.

So I've written a poem about them as on The Healing Journey.

But when they took away this tree, it had smashed my favorite clay pot.

And I just sat there and bawl my head off.

Yeah.

And so I gathered it up, and Gordon helped me do it.

Gathered up all these, I think it was in like 50 pieces.

Oh, a lot of fragments.

Yeah.

Maybe a hundred.

And I decided, to put this thing back together again.

And you did, I did.

It took me five weeks and and I put a candle inside it, and then I, we decided we wanted to have this vigil and would invite everybody to bring their own candle.

And we had a therapist, trauma therapist come and talk with us, and, we told stories and we comforted each other, but we each had our little candle.

That's nice.

So that that's the poem that I've written about.

And these, I call them the green men.

So came here.

Can you.

Can you read that poem for us?

Yes.

The title of is it is mending a Clay pot cracked, touched by a tornado tree.

That's how the light gets out.

The healers journey began when green men with machines gently removed fallen trees and a whole village of living vessels gathered together to restore and mend open hands.

Listening to hearth Pathway, radio knitting visionary hope toward renewal.

Retrieval.

For we too are made of clay.

That's beautiful.

Very nice.

And Gordon, you wrote a poem where we're almost out of time, but I'd love to hear you talk a little bit about that, because that was really you sort of reliving the terror that you felt at that time.

Maybe give us a little chunk of that poem.

Right.

Okay, Dawn.

Thunderclap booms cannon loud trees stir uneasily.

Pale early light dims to dark electric crackling of lightning glowing blue within the gloom.

A glowing rushing river of wind.

Rain darts horizontally and silver arrows.

We leap from bed to window in alarm.

Instantly it is upon us on every side.

Enfolded within the banshee wings of an angel of death.

We scream in terror.

Well, I think that's a pretty good summation of what some people went through that day.

Yeah, I appreciate all of you for being here.

Thank you.

Sarah O'Neil, Linda Marie Cossa, and Gordon Magill Thank you very much for sharing your stories.

We appreciate you, thank you, thank you.

Yeah.

Oh, up.

You can hear these conversations on speaking of the podcast version available on all platforms.

Like.

Up next, the warehouse.

A Speaking of Show by WFSU this week.

Tom About Town.

Railroad square has been a center for the Tallahassee arts community for years.

But following the May 10th tornadoes, many of the small businesses in the square saw substantial damage affecting their ability to operate.

One full year later, and the impact of the tornadoes is still apparent, which has some concerned for the future of Tallahassee's art scene.

Tom Flanigan is not only about town, but also here with our live studio audience, talking with members of the arts community.

You know what a thrill this is to be part of our inaugural, and we hope not the final speaking up before a live studio audience.

And I'm Tom Flanigan since my segment is entitled Tom About Town, I knew we were going to do this in studio part of the show, so I needed to get out into town as the title goes.

And so about a month ago, with a WFSU public media camera crew, we went running through Railroad Square in search of tenants and art folks there to get an idea of how the tornadoes of one year ago had impacted their lives, their business, and the creative process.

And here is what we found out.

And we are coming to you from Railroad Square, which is the artistic district of South Tallahassee.

We are commemorating the May 10th anniversary, first anniversary of the triple tornado that struck this end of town and caused so much havoc and devastation and I'm standing at the other vintage shop in Railroad Square.

Co-owner Brooklyn Croy is with me and Brooklyn.

What do you remember most significantly?

About May 10th, a year ago, it was pretty devastating waking up and not knowing what's going on.

Because we weren't allowed to come down here because of the destruction.

But then learning, like, half of the square is just gone.

It was pretty bad.

Pretty sad time.

Yeah.

How did you hear about the devastation?

Was it just a phone call?

Did you get a text?

How did that happen?

It was either on Facebook or a text from another business owner that the whole thing was closed down by the city, so we weren't able to look at cameras because the power was out.

So we kind of just waited a couple days to find out what the status of our building was, and what was that status when you came down here possibly expecting the worst?

Yeah, we were worried, but our building actually pretty much went fine.

We had our power ripped out of the wall like the intake, but other than that it was.

We didn't have any damage.

Thankfully.

Us well, a lot of folks, as you mentioned here in Railroad Square, did have a lot of damage.

So what has the recovery process been like for them?

And if we lost anyone out of the square?

And what is this particular First Friday like here is you anticipate people coming as many as before or what?

It's definitely decrease the amount of people coming in because like I said, we're about half of the vendors have left the square.

I think two huge buildings had to be completely destroyed or like taken down.

But yeah, it's definitely been a slow process getting everything back together and getting people back into the buildings that are still usable.

But, we still have a lot of people coming down for First Friday, so hopefully it'll start building back up at River and square.

We're at the Able Artist Gallery, and there we ran into a longtime denizen of Railroad Square, and that is Jim Russell of Jim Russell.

Art.

And, Jim, I know your place took a real hit from the tornadoes of May 10th.

How did you find out about it?

How did you hear it?

Well, the, the residents and vendors out here at Railroad Square often talk to each other on social media.

They got a page where they share information, and of course, we're on email lists and that sort of thing.

So that morning when the tornadoes hit, the news was going out quite fast, that something really bad had happened out here at, Railroad Square.

And there was a lot of devastation.

And basically, if you have stuff out here, you need to get out here.

You came back to Railroad Square when the all clear was finally sounded to find what?

Well, devastation, really, it was a lot of it.

I was very lucky that I had I had a studio out here that I had closed down and moved into other galleries about a year before, but my stuff was in these other galleries as well.

So of course my first thought was, do I have any art left or is it all over Tallahassee now?

But coming out here was really a shock though too, because there was just so much grief about this, this, this little, like, as you say, an enclave of art that was just ripped apart by these tornadoes.

And so it was really an overwhelming feeling to arrive here and see that happen had happened.

What kind of impact did that have on your business?

Because that is your livelihood now.

Yeah.

For me, a lot of my stuff I sell online, you know, so I knew I was going to survive as a business with that.

But a lot of people don't do that.

They have a lot of stuff just in the galleries.

And so there were a lot of businesses that, that were able to be, were able to stick around afterwards, but some didn't make it either.

And that's really the sad part about it.

There were some businesses that just did not survive that.

And you got to remember also that we weren't too far from coming out of Covid as well.

Railroad Square's Able Artists Gallery was co-founded by Lauren Walker, and she's here with us right now to recall what happened back on May 10th, when the tornadoes came slamming through this part of town.

Lauren, I remember the Able Artists Gallery was not originally here on this part of Railroad Square.

Where were you guys?

We were on the other side.

In a big warehouse.

That was turquoise and purple.

I remember it well.

And that took a massive hit from the storm, didn't it?

Yeah.

And then and blue the whole back half apart and it like, it broke off and then it fell down on itself.

Well you are located here right next to, another artist too, well known here in Brevard Square, Janet Cosmo, who also was very much into Caribbean music and towards the Caribbean basin and all that with her bands periodically.

And she told me that she kind of approach you guys and said, hey, I think I can help you relocate.

What was that like?

It was pretty awesome.

It's a good opportunity.

We have people that come up to us and offer us opportunities, and this is how we get to where we are today.

It's a community.

We can't do it by ourselves.

As soon as I got over the shock of the house being destroyed and drive in, easily a half a mile before I got to Railroad Square, I was seeing Railroad Square on the side of the road.

There were studios that had blown three quarters of a mile away, and I was passing them as I was driving their, you know, their unique colors in Railroad Square.

And those were the things I was seeing.

So I drove in and I noticed entire buildings were gone.

Other buildings were gone from the roof, and half of the walls gone.

And it was utter devastation.

Now, my particular studio, it's in the middle of an eight studio road called.

The, boardwalk, the boardwalk.

It's the only building in Railroad Square that was fully insured.

So it was the first one to get fixed.

Now, first one to get fixed means two and a half months.

I went in and went right into my studio, and there was water on the floor.

The roof had lifted up about seven inches and water came pouring in from that.

But but we didn't lose a single piece of equipment because all our electronic flashes and stuff were about an inch and a half up off the ground because of the wheels pictures.

I have 150 pictures on the wall, and 80 of them were laying face down in the water.

Now they are canvas prints and they've been sprayed.

So I took them and shook them off and wiped them.

And they were, for the most part, fine.

We lost 20 pictures out of 150.

And that last gentleman we were talking with is the esteemed and celebrated photographer Bob O'Lary, who has his studio in Railroad Square.

We were not in Railroad Square speaking with him because he's such a busy guy.

We had to literally track him down at the recent, ward of South Festival, where he was also doing some work.

That brings us back here to the WFSU public, Media Studios, and we are joined live by, two terrific folks.

First, Kathleen Spehar, executive director, Council on Culture and Arts, and Gabrielle Simpson, vice president and director of 621 Gallery, which is in Railroad Square.

Starting with you, Gabrielle, what was the status for you and the gallery during the tornadoes of the 10th of May?

Yeah, so I actually, I wasn't in Tallahassee.

I was with my mom at an appointment that day, and I got a text from my boyfriend who works here, and he was saying, I'm on my way to the gallery.

I'm going to make sure everything's fine.

And I'm just thinking, I don't know what you're talking about.

What do you mean?

You're on your way to the gallery of work, and then I. I hear from Josh, and I hear from our board members, and and everyone's on their way to see what's going on with the gallery.

And luckily, they were able to get in and see that our section of the building was okay.

The outer wall of 650, the building that we're located in, was blown off for the most part, the wall that is for cosmic Cat comics.

And we had a bit of debris that fell into our section and our main gallery, but thank goodness all of the art was okay.

We were able to get reopened within the next month when they got all of the debris cleared up.

But, very, very thankful that the damage did not extend too far into the main galleries of of 6 to 1.

Well, 6 to 1 backup, essentially running as before.

And I think you have some, big deals that are coming up here in the not too distant future, right?

Yes.

We have continued with our monthly exhibition exchanges.

We have continued to host a variety of space rentals and pop up events for the community.

Thankfully, our community has stuck by our side.

Our engagement with the students has grown as even this past month we had a fashion release with stitch, FSU.

We had Casey Review do their magazine literary magazine launch with us.

We've had 3 or 4 films that were shot in the gallery in the past year, including a documentary from some film students at FSU about, the devastation of the tornadoes.

And right now we've got a wonderful exhibition with Paula Santos and the inmates from the Madison's Department of Corrections.

It's a wonderful exhibit that we're having, a talk about on this upcoming Saturday, May 10th, which is the anniversary.

We've also been planning a one year event for the tenants with, capacity video lounge and the V arcade.

We.

Due to the rain on Saturday, we are going to be having our talk, and the Barcade is going to be having a show that night, but we are going to reschedule the rest of the events that we had planned.

But all funds raised are going to go towards the galleries that were displaced or affected by the tornado, such as, feeling Art, Able Artist Gallery and 621.

Oh that's terrific.

Appreciate the beneficence right there.

Kathleen Coca was not hit directly, but you guys jumped right in to help with the recovery effort for the artists who were affected by the tornadoes.

Right?

Absolutely.

We were on site about two hours afterwards.

And so some of the debris that Bob had described was everywhere.

We took a walk around and, Nicki Foust, theater, the roof was completely torn off of that.

And then we saw also other, particular buildings that were destroyed, or really heavily damaged.

We also witnessed an incredible, show of, community support.

People were there work walking around, hugging each other.

They were, bringing food to each other, water, anything that that could possibly happen.

So I talked to the vault, which was a small, music studio.

Those, all those musicians were completely devastated by what had happened there, but we guaranteed that we were going to help.

So we jumped in in several ways, just connecting with every, organization and every artist we could possibly find to find out where they were at and what kind of help they needed.

A lot of them were coming down, and we could actually talk to them personally and find that out.

There were some folks that needed immediate help, and we are, right now we have co-working with out of Domi Station.

And so Domi and Coco worked out an arrangement so artists could come to Domi and use that space as needed.

We also then started to work with, a the disaster relief efforts that were going on in the county.

So, we worked with a career source, Capital Region, Florida Commerce and others, to prepare for, disaster disaster relief that we knew that was going to come to the community through, through a different means, like, like, FEMA.

I don't know if anyone's aware of this or not, but usually arts and culture is not included in disaster relief.

You have to actually add artists, any kind of creative businesses to the lists.

So we worked very diligently to make sure that artists and arts organizations were counted.

So without the advocacy and the actually the leadership of Coca, this recovery process would have been a heck of a lot more challenging and difficult.

Possibly exactly what we found is that there were different needs.

Some were extremely, extreme needs, because it was an embroidered square.

But it also happened in Cascades Park with Southern Shakespeare.

There there is set for their, the Shakespeare in the Park was completely destroyed.

Lemoyne didn't have power for a while.

You know, we just we're just kind of checking in, so at the different levels of need, then we would just come in and say, what did you need?

And how can we find you some resources?

We also had a local arts supporter, Will Crowley, started a GoFundMe for, Railroad Square.

And eventually it gave out over $700 per organization or per business from his fundraising campaign.

He raised over $25,000 to do that.

So we also helped out with the distribution of of those funds and helped Willow out with that effort.

It sounds, Gabriel, like an entire community wide effort to try to get things back up and running.

It really is.

It really brought a lot of the, tenants together, those who maybe didn't know who their neighbors were.

Yeah, it really kind of brought us all together for the same goals, making sure that we're all there for each other and seeing what we can do to ensure that people don't forget about us when disaster strikes.

It's sometimes difficult to remind ourselves that the arts and creative folks are every bit as vulnerable to this kind of situation as everyone else.

So, Gabrielle Simpson, the vice president and director of 6 to 1 Gallery, Kathleen Speaker, the executive director of the Council on Culture and the Arts.

Thanks for being on our inaugural live speaking of thank you.

Thank you.

You can hear these conversations on our podcast, The Warehouse, available on all platforms.

Up next.

Unbothered.

A speaking of show by WFSU.

Tornadoes can be scary, abrupt, and unpredictable.

So how can you be best equipped when that alert hits your phone or breaks into your favorite radio program?

Lynn Hatter and Rheannah Wynter are sitting down with experts to learn more about tornado preparedness.

It's been 363 days since a round of tornadoes touched down in our region, Florida.

It gave us a glimpse of what, 100 mile per hour winds can do in a place like Tallahassee.

This week, I'm unbothered.

We're talking about last year's natural disasters in preparation for the next one.

I'm your host, Rheannah Wynter.

Joining us is Kevin Peters.

He's the director of emergency management at B Leon County Division of Emergency Management.

We're also joined by the director of Community relations and resilience in Leon County, Mathieu Cavell.

And sitting across from me is the director of content, Lynn Hatter.

Hey, Rihanna.

Hi, Lynn.

How are you doing?

Good.

How?

I hear you have a story about tornadoes to tell us.

Oh, man, it's the most embarrassing day of my life.

So what happened was I was filling in for Gina on Morning Edition.

So my day started around 3:45 a.m..

It was very dark, and I get to the station.

All's going normal.

But around 6 a.m., the emergency weather alerts start going off and I'm like, This is odd because we have newscasts at 604 or 634.

You guys know how things go.

And every single time I try to start a newscast, I would get maybe ten 20s then an alert would go off.

And so around 701, once that last one went off, I said, okay, what is going on?

So I go to the National Weather Service and I pull up our map and our entire area is just red.

And I'm like, this doesn't look right.

And I remembered that that storm was supposed to pass over us.

So I called down to our meteorologist and I said, hey, meteorologists, this don't look good.

And they were like, what do you mean?

You guys are fine?

And I'm like, I think you need to refresh.

And I remember when our meteorologists refresh, she was like, oh, you need to run.

So just so everybody understands the layout here, our radio studios are on one side of the building and where we are, we're on another side of the building.

So I ran across the building and the front doors opened.

And I remember I looked up and the sky was swirling in this sickly green gray color.

And I have been through a lot, but I don't think I have quite ever been that afraid in my life.

So I hauled tail feathers downstairs and I ran into a downstairs conference room that is, apparently our general manager said the absolute worst place for me to have hidden.

And I cowered, starting from about 705, until I thought that maybe the storm had passed.

So if you were listening that morning and you were wondering, What's going on?

Your morning Edition host was cowering in fear for her life.

That is where she was.

I was downstairs and I was hiding.

And I guess that leads me to the question that I have for for you guys, Kevin and Matt.

Did I cower in fear properly?

Well, I will say, and then Kevin can talk about the proper cowering technique, but I will say that you followed precisely what folks do when they receive alerts that you received one, maybe two alerts, different sources.

You vetted it and then you took action.

And the biggest thing that we can always say, always, is that no one has been communicated with too much during a disaster.

And we always encourage everyone to have multiple ways weather radios, push alerts, whatever it is.

To come to your phone to give you that nudge, to take that appropriate protective action as soon as possible.

Know what that protective action is, Kevin.

Yeah.

So oh, sorry.

You did do some of the right things.

You know, we generally advise people, if you're in a building to get to the lowest level of that building.

Now, you need to be in an interior space for away from all the exterior walls and windows.

So the lobby of here of WFC Studios, not the best place.

A lot of windows there.

You were heading in the right direction.

Perhaps.

Maybe one of the bathrooms or something more closer to the interior or the stairwell of the building might have actually been a little bit better a spot.

But you, as Matt said, you did the right things.

You got the you received the warning and you took action.

Okay.

So I was I was in the vicinity of safety.

Yes.

Maybe not quite right on the money, but I was close enough.

Yeah, I know that we're taking audience questions here.

And one of the questions was related to those alerts because, yeah, Lin heeded the alerts.

But I think the first step that you're mentioning is actually getting those alerts and listening to them.

So what challenges does local government face, when it comes to actually getting people to heed the threat of a natural disaster?

Well, I think we'd start with first receiving those alerts.

Now, there are options on the phone, to turn off alerts that would come to you.

So, you know, normally we issue wireless emergency alerts in coordination with the National Weather Service for what protective actions you need to take and why and when and locations and all that other stuff.

Those that come to your phone, though, you have the option to turn off.

We would never encourage you to do that.

Those types of alerts that you receive if they happen at in convenient times, like when you're sleeping and they wake you up, guess what?

That was for an intended purpose.

And so we would always encourage folks to keep themselves available to receive those alerts that is one of the hardest things that we can do to make sure that we reach you where you are as fast as possible, because when minutes matter in a tornado warning, you need to make the right and best choice or close enough as Lyndon, how do you think the impact of the tornadoes we saw last year on May 10th compares to something we're more familiar with, which is hurricanes?

Yeah.

Oh, I'm sorry, Lynn, I was just saying it's right around the corner, right?

Yeah.

So, while the tornadoes had a much narrower impact in our community, like the, the path was, you know, mile wide ish.

So there was still a lot of, community that was not affected.

The numbers were more than, mill.

Sorry.

I mean, Irma and Michael combined with, with damaged structures.

We had, over 1600 homes that had damage.

174 of those were considered destroyed by the FEMA damage assessment process.

So it was by far the most impactful to to the homes in our community.

Beyond anything we've seen with with hurricanes, multiple hurricanes.

Yeah.

I think it's worth mentioning that the winds from these tornadoes were reaching up to 100mph.

And, well, we haven't at least recently been hit by a category four, tornado directly with the eyewall in our region.

I think we might have seen what that might look like if and when that happens.

Yeah, certainly.

You know, I think the takeaway for the community is, is, is that the tornado activity we had on May 10th of last year, is a glimpse of what a strong hurricane could look like.

But I do want to point out, though, with hurricanes, you know, it is very, very important to know water is probably the most deadly hazard we've seen.

It's that storm surge that that rise above the coast, above ground level as storms come in off the Gulf of Mexico.

That that's one of the most deadliest parts of hurricanes.

So, people in the Big Bend area, if you're in a coastal community, you certainly need to pay close attention to that.

Second to that, freshwater flooding from heavy rainfall, and then wind is actually on the lower end of, of the impacts that actually take lives in hurricanes.

Yeah.

What can we do to mitigate damage?

And, if you either of you could answer this, in terms of rural versus people in the metropolitan area, because I know there's a big difference with our tree canopy and everything.

So what can be done to mitigate some of the damage done to to life and property?

Well, and I'll use a personal example.

I do live in the city.

You know, one of the things that I've over the last ten years is, I've worked to get trees taken down that were very close to my home, that I've had somebody come out and check the health of the trees.

And unfortunately, a number of the trees weren't, weren't, weren't healthy and needed to be taken down.

But but, you know, a lot of preparedness actions, they are costly and it takes in a few years, but it's just an example to people in the community that if you work at it over time, you can you can achieve your, your preparedness goals.

You don't have to do it all in one day.

So what goes on for you guys in both of your offices when a natural disaster is, is imminent?

Because I think for the tornadoes on May 10th, a lot of people, it came out of nowhere for them.

But I'm imagining both of you had a sense of, of these things coming.

Well, so that day, in the morning of May 10th, the emergency operations Center was activated because there were increasing threats over night.

So from about midnight to 3 a.m. or so, we started to see an escalation in the threat that was going to be a potential in our community.

So our emergency operations center had partially activated, and Kevin and I had reported shortly after 7:00, with staff already there to help lead that response and recovery effort.

We stayed activated for nearly one month's worth of time.

Continuous, because what we do in Emergency Operations Center is we respond to the immediate life threats and then save lives wherever possible and coordinate those efforts.

And then comes the recovery.

So as we've talked about many different times, the recovery can often take months, if not years to restore a community back to normal again.

And many of those efforts are coordinated through the Emergency Operations Center by providing commodities like Emory's shelf stable meals and water to make sure that folks can recover.

And then it's the longer term business assistance, nonprofit assistance, and household repair and recovery.

So now that we have hurricane season coming, what's something that anyone listening can do to keep themselves a little safer?

Yeah, there are three main things that we would advocate.

You know, first off, and this doesn't cost anything is to make a plan, you know, get together with your family and, make sure you know what you're going to do.

If a hurricane does come to our part of the Big Bend, this hurricane season, the next is have a way to receive the alerts.

I know we've talked a lot about that, but having multiple ways to receive, severe weather alerts and updates from Leon County, or, you know, if your neighboring county, whichever county you live in, getting those, those emergency alerts and having that disaster supply kit, all of the essential items you'll need if you're going to shelter in place in your home and your safe room, or if you have to take your stuff.

Maybe you live in a storm surge zone zone and you need to evacuate.

You want to have all that consolidated.

We recommend a five gallon bucket, make it convenient, have all the items you need.

And those are the three main things the plan, the alerts, methods, and your disaster supply kit and those types of preparatory actions are one of the most significant ways to help you manage the anxiety as we can move into a hurricane season, which has a lot of levels of uncertainty for it.

Weekend.

The your initial forecast are 17 storms, so it only takes one of those.

Obviously, as we know here in Leon County, to to change how we live and what our future looks like.

I'm we've had 11 federally declared disasters here in Leon County since 2016.

And when you take stock of that, some of those big names that jump out, or Hermine and Irma and Michael.

And then over the past year again, we've had, Debbie's and Helene's and most significantly, the May 10th tornadoes.

And they, they stick in your head for a long, long time, and they make you somewhat anxious about what the hurricane season has to offer.

One of the best ways to mitigate that is to have a plan with your friends and family in your neighborhood.

Again, that network that is just adjacent to you, to what is it that you do and how do you prepare and and start those plans now in an effort to wrap your arms around it?

One of the things that people in our audience want to know is how things have recovered from last year, because yes, we can prepare from some of the damages, but we really need other people in the community to help us.

Get to a place where we're whole again.

So what do you know about how we have recovered from last year and maybe some of the things that you learned?

From such a unique event for the community?

So let me take one thing and then I'll pass it off to Kevin.

So we had just mentioned neighborhoods, and I want to underscore that, again, the power of the neighborhoods and the neighbors that helped.

One of the significant things we saw in the tornadoes experiencing three tornadoes, two EF twos and one EF one, that scalp pulled out nearly 2000 structures worth of damage.

Is that the rest of the folks in our community could lend that assistance and help.

What we had seen is the nonprofits and voluntary agencies making a significant effort in our community, removing more than 1200 trees from properties.

And so those were all the folks that showed up from from Baptist this, veterans organizations that to lean in and help and share that burden of recovery, which is just the same as it is in hurricanes, but most especially during the May 10th tornadoes.

So again, the the help of neighbors.

And that helps a voluntary agencies.

And then the strength of nonprofit partners like 211 Big Bend to help connect folks to the myriad resources that are available that help you navigate that.

So that case management is an important structure.

Yeah.

You know, I think, staying on that, that helping theme.

And maybe I look behind the curtain a little bit at the county, and this is a lesson we've learned over the years, is, that every county employee has a role.

You know, obviously, this is what we do all the time with emergency communications and emergency management, but but everybody from librarians to, you know, environmental scientists, all of the positions within the county, you have people that do have critical roles, like our paramedics and our people with our public works department that that cleared the debris.

But every employee has a role.

And as we go through each of these emergencies, you know, we we, we discover all the different skill sets and we, you know, it helps us refine in place where all of these employees can help the best because it's an entire it's an entire response by Leon County, to make sure our community on its worst day gets the best help they can get.

Yeah.

Well, Matt and Kevin, I want to thank you for joining us for another episode of unbothered.

So thank you.

You can hear it these conversations on our podcast, unbothered, available on all platforms.

That's it for this week.

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