TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — A lot of people in this community are breathing a sigh of relief Friday morning, Forrest Saunders reported from the Emergency Operations Center in Tallahassee, Florida.
The big reason why, of course, is because Helene did not make a direct impact on the capital city.
There was a lot of expectation leading up to this storm that we would see unprecedented damage. That didn't happen. Doesn't mean that there isn't damage here in Tallahassee, there are still a lot of trees down there, a lot of roads that are clogged with that kind of debris, and the crews are now starting that effort to try and clean things up.
But the bad news is, of course, what didn't happen here in Tallahassee has happened in other parts of the state. The Big Bend region, got a huge swath of damage. Just nasty stuff out there in some parts of the state. If you're looking at the power outages map overall right now, you're seeing about 1.2 million customers that are without power. And the problem is it's going to be tough to get out there and fix all of that, because a lot of those roads are clogged with debris, just like here in Tallahassee, some of the main highways, some of the interstates still have trees down, and that stuff needs to be moved out of the way before a lineman can get out there.
We did find out from the state that there was at least one storm-related fatality here in Florida.
We know of two others up in Georgia, those were connected to tornadoes that touched down.
But here in Florida, one fatality that happened in Ybor City or just outside of it on I-4 where it sounds like a car that was on the road there was hit by a road sign that came down.
Governor DeSantis said he expected to report more fatalities given the size and the scope of this storm.
We will find out more likely during the 9 am press conference.
The American Red Cross recommends taking these actions during an extended power outage:
- Monitor alerts— this includes weather reports and safety notifications from local governments.
- Contact your support network. Let your family, friends and neighbors know you're okay and see how they're doing.
- Unplug unneeded appliances and electronics to prevent an overload.
- Prevent carbon monoxide poisoning— only use a generator outside and away from windows, and never use outdoor stoves indoors.
