- Florida A&M University and the surrounding area are recovering from severe weather.
- Over 100 students have been relocated from damaged dorms to other housing.
- Small businesses, like Earley's Kitchen, are reopening and making an impact.
- Watch now to hear from a FAMU student who describes what it's been like to live in College Town.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Cleaning up, yet preparing for more.
I'm Alberto Camargo your College Town neighborhood reporter.
Showing you how the area around Florida A&M University is recovering from severe weather, while hoping not to see a repeat of Friday.
Things may not look as bad as they did on Friday — but storm effects are still obvious.
On-campus, it's as if school is still out.
FAMU summer semester started Monday, but all classes are online.
Over 100 students have been relocated from dorms that were damaged to the Palmetto Phase 3 apartments.
I spoke with Aniyah Carr, "This is serious, this is getting worse and worse."
She says living in the neighborhood has been difficult while everyone gets back on their feet.
"I have experienced a lot of internal turmoil with there being nowhere to go, nowhere to get food, like all the power is out on this side of town. It just looks really bad, it makes you feel bad for all the small businesses and everybody who is affected."
One of those small businesses: Earley's Kitchen on South Monroe Street.
Which recently reopened after a year-long renovation.
I spoke with the owner, Jay Morrell, who tells me even though he lost power over the weekend, Earley's still made an impact.
"We still had gas services so we were able to fry up some food and fry up some chicken and feed some of the people in the neighborhood just to keep everybody going."
While some staff have returned to work, Jay says a few who are still in college haven't come back to town.
They might be short-staffed, but Jay is glad that Earley's is one of the few options open for a recovering neighborhood.
"It's always a challenge on the southside, every day, not just a tornado day. But we're resilient on the southside — like we say, southside pride — and we were thankful that we were able to be open a few days afterwards."
Jay tells me Earley's is back up and running after just two days, ready to feed the neighborhood.
In College Town, Alberto Camargo, ABC27.
