LEON COUNTY, Fla. (WTXL) - Two weeks after Hurricane Michael, Leon County is still trying to clear debris, restore power, and help residents who had damage from the storm.
For 194 hours during Hurricane Michael, Leon County's Emergency Operation Center was in response mode, that's longer than any other previous storm.
Leon County's Emergency Management Director, Kevin Peters, said they have learned one lesson from last hurricane season.
"Communication. We carried that on through this disaster. Some of the radio adds and the web adds that we ran during our social media presence and all of our updates we provided to the community," said Peters. "We made sure we implemented those lessons learned."
Peters said as of Wednesday, the county has cleared more than 1,000 roads, collecting nearly 37,000 tons of debris.
The county is also working with FEMA to assess damage to residential and government structures.
Peters said the initial estimates for damage impacts to city and county are in the neighborhood of $40 million.
Those who experienced damage and loss are encouraged to work with FEMA to fill out disaster assistance paperwork.
"For disaster survivor assistance and our inspectors that will come out, they'll all have proper identification and they will never ask for money," said Patrick Cornbill, FEMA Deputy Operations Branch Director for Leon County. "So there are people who will ask for money, you have to be very wary of them. There are fraudsters out there trying to take advantage of the situation."
Cornbill said FEMA has registered more than 4,500 Leon County residents for disaster assistance in two weeks.
FEMA and other state representatives are set up at the LeRoy-Collins Leon County Main Library.
They will be there daily from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. to help residents with recovery needs.
