Tallahassee dodged the proverbial bullet, nearly missing Hurricane Helene’s eyewall — the worst of the storm’s winds.
The Category 4 storm smacked into the Big Bend Thursday night with a wrath the area has never before seen. The rain and wind left thousands without power.
Some of the hardest hit counties — Taylor, Dixie, Suwannee, Madison — were knocked completely off the grid, according to a USA TODAY power outage tracker. Others, like Jefferson and Wakulla, trailed close behind, with nearly but not all customers without power.
As of 7:41 a.m., the city of Tallahassee’s power outage map reported 883 outages, affecting 52,724 customers. Talquin Electric’s outage map reported 17,080 outages in Leon County, nearly 66% of its customers.
Here’s the latest from the path of the storm:
As dawn breaks, extent of Big Bend surge, damage coming into focus
Dawn broke Friday morning over a battered and sudden Big Bend region of Florida after hurricane Helene roared ashore overnight.
The sharp smell of pine filled the air, an artifact of the hundreds of snapped trees lining roads between St. Marks and Perry.
Emergency workers flooding into the area, wove around downed trees along U.S Highway 98 as sheriff deputies, limited access, and patrolled for possible looting.
In the tiny community of St. Marks, about 20 miles south of Tallahassee, floodwaters had reached the front of the U.S Post Office building, about 3/10 of a mile from the St. Marks River, which flows into the Gulf a few miles downstream.
Some residents had planned to ride out the storm in their homes or aboard fishing boats tied up at the marina. They could not be immediately reached Friday morning, although cellphone service in the area was working.
‘A lot of prayers’: Taylor County residents begin to take stock
TAYLOR COUNTY — Outside Perry, longtime resident Donna Parker, 80, watched as her grandson cut up a toppled palm tree with a chainsaw.
Parker has lived in her house since 1985 and has never left for a hurricane, the names of which she can still rattle off.
“The wind, it was bad. But I’ve had worse. We’ve really had worse. I’ve had it where my whole front yard was a lake,” she said.
“A lot of prayers, I tell you, when the wind come up. But the good Lord looked after us.”
–Trevor Hughes
Tallahassee crews start restoration
Power restoration and road clearing began overnight, according to a city update.
Initial assessments show:
- 50 roads blocked by downed trees
- 53,000 customers without power
- Nine transmission lines, six substations and 46 circuits are out
“Crews continue to assess damage and make repairs,” the city said.
Leon County nearly misses Hurricane Helene’s worst
Leon County officials say the capital county and city were spared from Hurricane Helene’s eyewall — where the worst of the winds stirred.
The National Weather Service and the Hurricane Center clocked 140 mile per hour winds in the eye wall, said Emergency Management Director Kevin Peters.
It’s too early to tell the extent of the damage brought on by the Category 4 storm that made landfall just 30 miles east, said Leon County Administrator Vince Long, but the number of calls to the Consolidated Dispatch Agency were lower than normal nights.
“These early hours here will really tell the tale for us as we go forward and really try to figure out the extent of damages in the community,” Long said.
He said calls through the night were mainly to report down trees or sparking power lines spotted.
So far, crews have cleared 50 roads with down trees and more assistance and assessment will take place after sunrise, Peters said.
The emergency activation “was extensive,” Long said. “We have a lot of experience, unfortunately, with hurricanes,” he said. “Since 2016 we’ve had six.”
Both officials noted how well the community responded to the city and county’s messaging efforts. A mandatory evacuation was ordered for RVs and mobile homes, and the county-provided shelters housed 1,600 people, Long said.
With the worst of Helene behind Leon County and Tallahassee, the goal is to repair Helene’s damage as quickly as possible and stay on top of any future storms during the final month of hurricane season.
“Helene is done with us, but hurricane season is not,” Long said.
