Helene's impacts begin arriving in Apalachicola

AccuWeather

AccuWeather's Bill Wadell reported live from Apalachicola, Florida, where some people who had planned to ride out Hurricane Helene changed their minds and evacuated in the hours before the storm's arrival.

Transcript

00:00Bill is in Apalachicola, Florida right now, and Bill, impacts starting to ramp up.

00:06We do believe that the eyewall will pass to your west.

00:09Now that's important for Apalachicola.

00:11You are not going to be in the right front quadrant, there will be a damaging storm surge,

00:15but it is not going to be as bad as it will be farther east in Apalachia Bay.

00:21Mr. Flynn, is uh...

00:23Yeah, and I can tell you, Bernie, with that forecast update, a lot of people are breathing

00:27a sigh of relief, but we know we're still going to be dealing with some big-time impacts

00:31here in Apalachicola.

00:32This is what some of the businesses look like.

00:34The windows are boarded up, and when it comes to the doors, they've got it tarped, they've

00:38got the sandbags, they've got tape.

00:40What they're concerned about is that threat of 10 to 15 feet of storm surge right here

00:44across the street from Apalachicola Bay.

00:47That's what they are worried about with this storm.

00:49And a lot of people did pack up and leave today.

00:52Some people did not follow that mandatory evacuation order until later today, and they

00:56decided to get out.

00:58Now, take a look at the conditions that we saw earlier today, this morning.

01:02This was around high tide, water spilling out of the bay and onto a few low-lying streets.

01:08This is just a preview of some of the impacts that we're expecting to see here tonight.

01:13Hurricane Helene will be pushing inland as the tide is rising.

01:16High tide is at 3 this morning here in Apalachicola.

01:21Some businesses have boarded up and put up the sandbags to try and block any floodwaters

01:25from getting inside, but others did not board up.

01:28We can tell you virtually every single business here in Apalachicola is shut down and locked

01:33up tight.

01:34Lyle Croft, the owner of Go Fish, says he had his boards cut years ago, but this is

01:40the first time he's ever had to use them.

01:44We've got water-absorbing snakes inside the doors, and then we use this Flex Seal tape

01:50on the joints between the wall and the floor in case anything blows underneath here.

01:56And it seemed to stick pretty well, so I'm a little nervous.

02:03Yeah, understandably, Lyle is nervous for himself, for his neighbors.

02:08He is leaving town, but there are some people who did stay here despite the mandatory evacuation,

02:14and we did speak with the Franklin County Sheriff's Office.

02:17They are concerned.

02:19At last check, there were still some holdouts in very vulnerable areas who told deputies

02:23that they were going to be staying behind.

02:26We do know that the Sheriff's Office posted a number earlier today letting people know

02:29at least a few hours ago, if you change your mind, if you're in a high-risk area or a barrier

02:34island, call deputies.

02:35They'll help you get out.

02:36But again, conditions are going to go downhill fast.

02:39We're losing daylight, so the situation is going to be getting much worse.

02:41All right, thanks for the update, Bill Waddell in Apalachicola.

02:46We'll take you to Cedar Key.

02:48Now Cedar Key is going to be in that life-threatening storm surge, and yeah, that's what Cedar

02:53Key looks like right now, and it's going to get far worse.

Category

Transcript

Recommended