Rural Florida wonders when help is coming
131 views · Published 31 October 2018 · 2:42 · Indexed 26 September 2026
Channel: AP Archive · 2018 · News & Politics
(26 Oct 2018) More than two weeks after the powerful eyewall of Hurricane Michael passed over Bay County, Florida, Mark Ward wonders when the power will come back on. And the sewer. And the water. Although electricity, water and sewer were restored to the residents of Panama City on Wednesday, those like Ward who live in the rural parts of Bay County are still lacking basic services. Bay County is known for its sugar-sand beaches. Panama City Beach, which made it through relatively unscathed from the storm, is a mecca for spring breakers each year. The rural folks in Bay County feel the invisible, residents there say. There are about 180,000 people in the entire county, and according to the Census, 14 percent of the people in the county live in poverty. He's one of the lucky ones in the Bayou George neighborhood of unincorporated Bay County. He has insurance. His mobile received relatively little damage. He has a generator, and he's rigged a hand pump for the well since an oak tree took out the electric pump station. The neighbors around him didn't fare as well. Next door, the family's mobile home is a skeleton of wood; they clung to debris then ran for safety to Ward's home during the eye of the storm with a mother and her newborn kittens. Ward's property next to the road is a tangle of oak trees, twisted metal of unknown origin and downed power lines. He checks in frequently with the people across the street, a group of twentysomething men and women who live in a mobile home on a few acres. "You're good on your MRE's?" he asked the group on a recent day. "If you want water, you know where my pump is. There's also a bathing station there. Bring a washrag. There's bars of soap." "Yeah, I'll probably use that, but my dad's got a running creek he said we could go use," said Ronald Lauricella, who owns the mobile home on the property. Their yard is a mishmash of downed limbs, garbage collected into a pile and two tents. Two dogs and a small kitten roam the property. Lauricella is staying in one tent and keeping food in another. The inside of his mobile home is another explosion of chaos. The front door and his bedroom window were blown out from the hurricane's winds. Water soaked the carpets and drywall. Lauricella is between jobs, and is hoping to make it to an interview at a restaurant this week if he can scrape up enough money for gas. He figures it's his only hope to recover from the storm. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/f4225398ebae2cf1bcb39ae5ef968026
