Hurricane Michael’s lingering pain

Many ‘still hurting’ nearly 5 months after brutal storm pummeled Florida Panhandle.

PANAMA CITY, FLA. — Paulina “Bela” Sebastiao would give almost anything to be able to do a load of laundry without having to drive miles from her Mexico Beach home. Anthony Campbell would appreciate having a gas station closer than an hour away from his house in Parker. And Patrick Muth just hopes it doesn’t rain when it’s time to go to work: His “office” in Panama City consists of a desk surrounded by rubble under an open sky.

Life is still a struggle in the county hardest hit by Hurricane Michael, which carved a wide swath of destruction through the Florida Panhandle when it roared ashore Oct. 10 with winds of 155 mph.

Drivers who have lived in the area for years second-guess themselves about whether they’re going the right way — the street signs, trees, and houses that once served as points of reference are gone. Many doctors’ offices haven’t reopened, and one of the county’s two hospitals was closed even though Bay County residents are experiencing hurricane-related health problems such as respiratory illness.

Students in schools damaged by the storm have moved into other facilities, dropping enrollment by 14 percent. Bay County had about 183,000 residents before the storm, and about 7,800 people were estimated to be homeless in January.

Shopping for groceries is burdensome since many retailers haven’t reopened yet. Many of those that have are selling limited goods from pop-up trailers parked in front of their damaged properties.

Garbage collectors aren’t even close to removing the 15 million cubic yards of Sheetrock, insulation, tree limbs and appliances strewn everywhere by the storm.

Amid such disruption, once-mundane everyday tasks now require a combination of planning, patience and luck.

“It’s just a hassle,” said Campbell, who is retired. “With everyday life ... everything is different. You have to readjust.”

After Hurricane Michael destroyed the Mexico Beach house of Bela and Jaques Sebastiao, they lived in a tent in their front yard and then a camper. They recently received a trailer from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, but it took more than a month before they were allowed to move in since they needed a special tank for sewage. The trailer had a shower and not being able to use it for weeks was “torture,” they said.

The Sebastiaos, along with two other neighbors, were the only residents who had returned to their beachside street in Mexico Beach, where homes were either blown off their foundations during the hurricane or intentionally knocked down after the storm because they were deemed too damaged.

“We don’t have any showers, no laundry, no supermarkets,” Jaques Sebastiao said in the days before they could move into their trailer.

For law enforcement, the biggest problems since the storm are the pervasiveness of unlicensed contractors and the illegal dumping of debris on the sides of roads. Otherwise, though, the hundreds of officers from outside agencies who came to Bay County in the weeks after the storm helped keep the crime rate down, said Bay County Sheriff Tommy Ford.

“Make no mistake. Things are very tough here, and there are people who are living in very difficult circumstances,” Ford said. “We are still hurting and we’re going to be hurting for a long time.”

DAVID GOLDMAN / ASSOCIATED PRESS Patrick Muth sifts through debris in January in what used to be his office of his fifth-generation plumbing business he continues to operate in Panama City, Fla. “You have two options,” said Muth. “You can lay down and cry or you can keep marching.”