News Flash

ESSENTIAL INFORMATION 

• The Bay County Medical Examiner is reporting 21 casualties.
• The 211 Citizen Hotline continues to receive non-emergency calls. For out-of-state callers, please dial (850) 248-6099.
• For up-to-date information, go to www.recoverbaycounty.com.
• Visit www.safeandwell.org to connect with friends and family and let them know you are safe. The website can also be used to search for loved ones.
• A curfew is still in effect for Bay County from midnight to 5 a.m. with a restriction on alcohol sales in place during curfew hours.
• On Sunday, Oct. 28 the National Weather Service is calling for sunny skies with a high near 79. Light and variable winds becoming west southwest 5 to 10 mph in the afternoon. Sunday night is expected to be clear with a low around 66 and west winds around 10 mph. 

Recover Bay County – By the Numbers

• 211 Calls: 2,200 (Beginning Oct. 20)
• 911 Calls for Service: 12,342 (compared to 4,685 in October 2017)
• Roads cleared (1,508 miles): 100 percent
• Crisis Cleanup: Logged more than 600 volunteer hours to help those in need.
• FEMA Point of Distribution (POD) Sites: 2
• Distribution of supplies as of Oct. 26: 141,367 (amount per person varies)
• Comfort Stations: 9
• Shelters: 8,653 occupied beds
• Pre-packed Food Distribution Locations: 8
• Meals Served: 535,042    
  • Salvation Army Feeding Sites: 18        
    • Meals served as of Oct. 26: 213,002
  • World Kitchen Feeding Sites: 2        
    • Meals served as of Oct. 25: 122,040 
  • Red Cross Emergency Response Vehicles for mobile feeding: 36        
    • Meals served as of Oct. 26: 200,000
• Debris Management    
  • Yard trash disposal facilities established: 8
  • Construction/demolition debris disposal sites established: 6    
  • Cubic yards collected: 166,500 (unincorporated area)
• Boil Water Notice Lifted: Bay County retail service area and Panama City Beach Utility service area.

Power Outages

• Gulf Power’s initial power restoration to the lines is now complete. They will continue to upgrade and restore the power grid, including power from the lines to properties.  
• Gulf Coast Electric is reporting approximately 5 percent of Bay County is without power. 

VOLUNTEERS

Bay County Emergency Operations Center will open a Volunteer Reception Center (VRC) on Monday, Oct. 29 at the Southport Community Center, located at 7734 Franklin Ave., Southport. The VRC provides a central location for the public to learn about, sign up for, and volunteer for the Hurricane Michael relief efforts throughout the Bay County area. The VRC will be open daily from 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

FEEDING SITES

Salvation Army Feeding Sites 

Open for lunch 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. and dinner daily from 5-6 p.m.

• Bayou George First Baptist Church 6227 Hwy. 2301, Panama City
• Northstar Church - St Andrews 2379 St Andrews Blvd., Panama City
• Youngstown/Fountain Dollar General 12610 U.S. 231, Youngstown
• Cedar Grove Elementary School 2825 15th St., Panama City
• Winn Dixie Lynn Haven 1812 Lynn Haven Pkwy Lynn Haven FL
• MLK Rec Center 705 14th St., Panama City
• Old Kmart Parking Lot 7040 U.S. 98, Panama City
• Parker Fire Department 4534 E Business Hwy 98
• Walmart Panama City 513 W 23rd St., Panama City
• Walmart Lynn Haven 2101 S Hwy. 77, Lynn Haven
• Walmart Calloway 725 N. Tyndall Parkway, Panama City
• Springfield corner of 3^rd Street (SR 22) & School Ave., Panama City
• Cove Shopping Center 929 Cherry St., Panama City
• Lucille Moore Elementary 1900 Michigan Ave., Panama City
• Boys & Girls Club 3404 W. 19^th St., Panama City
• Deer Point Elementary School 4800 C.R. 2321
• Panama City Seventh-Day Adventist Church and School 2700 Lisenby Ave.
• Dollar General Bayou George 7025 US-231, Panama City

World Central Kitchen

• Hiland Park Elementary 2507 E. Baldwin Road
• Springfield Community Church 615 Transmitter Road, Panama City

Feeding Gulf Coast Pre-Packaged Food Pantries

• Woodlawn United Methodist Church, We Care 219 N Alf Coleman Rd, Panama City Beach, 850-867-7342, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. daily.
• Food 4 Kidz, Inc 16610 Front Beach Road, Panama City Beach, 850-249-5439, 10 a.m. – 3p.m., Monday-Friday.
• St. Andrew Christian Care Center 3101 A West US Hwy 98, Panama City, 850-763-2345, 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. daily.
• Springfield United Methodist Church 701 School Ave, Panama City
• Springfield United Methodist Mission House, in conjunction with Springfield Community Church (7^th & Transmitter) 615 Transmitter Rd, Panama City, 850-769-0374, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. daily.
• Truth Baptist Church 4015 Maynard Drive, Panama City, 850-774-0300, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. every other day beginning Sunday, October 21, as food comes.
• Woodstock Church 17495 Panama City Beach Parkway, Panama City Beach, 850-234-0488, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. or 4 p.m. daily.
• First Baptist Church of Panama City 601 Grace Avenue, Panama City, 850-960-9929, only when able to accept food. Pantry damaged, but has access to parking lots.
• Grace Presbyterian Church 1415 Airport Road, Panama City

There are various feeding sites and locations with meals and water including self-stable and Meals-Ready-to-Eat (MREs). Please check with your local faith-based organizations and churches for donation and feeding information.

FEMA Points of Distribution (POD) 

Hours: 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. 

Three Bay County Points of Distribution, or PODs, are closed as of Friday, Oct. 26, with the remaining two sites closing Monday, Oct. 29. POD sites will no longer be distributing bulk food, water and ice, but they will continue to serve hot meals from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily for a week before closing completely.

The PODs have continued to see diminishing use within the community, and they are being closed to support local economic recovery as businesses surrounding the POD sites reopen.

These remaining PODs will close on Monday, Oct. 29:

• Rosenwald High School924 Bay Avenue, Callaway
• High Praise Church 7124 State Road 22, Panama City 

 While there was a high demand for POD sites in Bay County initially following Hurricane Michael, POD use has dropped by 94 percent compared to the peak POD use on Oct. 15. As economic recovery must happen hand-in-hand with individual recovery, continuing POD operations hampers the return to normal for local businesses and diverts economic activity away from the community. 

Operation Blue Roof

Operation Blue Roof, which temporarily repairs roofs at no cost to families, offers temporary covering of blue plastic sheeting helps reduce further damage to property until permanent repairs can be made. 

Primary residences that have standard shingled roofs are eligible to receive a temporary blue roof. Metal roofs and mobile homes will be considered for the program, as practical on a case-by-case basis. Roofs with greater than 50-percent structural damage are not eligible for this program. Renters must obtain legal permission from the homeowner to continue occupying the residence until more permanent repairs are made.

Homeowners must sign a Right of Entry, or ROE, form to allow government employees and contractors onto their property to assess damage and install the temporary covering.

Right of Entry collection centers are located at:

Beginning on Sunday, Oct. 28 at 8 a.m. the ROE that was located at Panama City Square will move to the Disaster Recovery Center located at: 

• Disaster Recovery Center    

  Bay County Public Library 898 W. 11^th St., Panama City

• Walmart near Pier Park 15495 Panama City Beach Parkway, Panama City Beach
• Walmart 2101 S. Hwy. 77, Lynn Haven

Centers are open from 8 a.m. – 6 p.m. daily. Additional locations may be added as necessary. For the most current information, please visit the Jacksonville District website at www.usace.army.mil/blueroof or call 1-888-ROOF-BLU (888-766-3258). Information is provided in both English and Spanish through this single number.

TRANSPORTATION

All Bay Town Trolley routes are open (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8) and are open 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. at the top of every hour on the hour as traffic permits, except Sunday. 

Flag stops (asking the driver to stop) will be allowed along the route

Bay Town Trolley is providing a transit route to the distribution and feeding sites on 17^th and 9^th streets in Lynn Haven. Hours: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Additional transit route vehicles will be J Tran from Jacksonville, FL and are grey and red. Serving every hour as time and traffic permits.

Pick up and drop off sites as follows:

• Millville Area Asian Market at College Ave and 5th Street
• Springfield Area Goodwill Business 98 and 3rd Street
• Parker Elementary School Bob Little Road
• Grocery Outlet Tyndall Parkway

DAYCARES

Early Learning Coalition of Northwest Florida has provided a list of more than 45 daycares that are now open. For a list, go online at www.recoverbaycounty.org. 

BAY COUNTY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

The Bay County Chamber of Commerce is partnering with Cissy Proctor, Executive Director of the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO), to hold a workshop to help you recover after Hurricane Michael. This storm has had a devastating affect on our community. The Chamber is working diligently with other organizations to help recover business operations.

At this informative workshop, you will learn the next steps you need to take to get your business back up and running. You will hear from DEO staff on what they are doing to help your business and have the opportunity to ask questions of the department.

The event will take place at the Oakland Terrace Men's Club (1009 W. 9th St., Panama City) on Monday, October 29th at 10:00 am.

ELECTIONS

Early voting began today, Oct. 27 for 12 hours each day through Election Day. To reach the Supervisor of Elections Office temporarily by phone call (850) 248-8602, (850) 248-8603 or (850) 248-8604 or visit www.bayvotes.org.

Six mega voting sites have been set up and are open to all Bay County Voters, Oct. 27-Nov.6:

• Stanford Station (near Hobby Lobby) 746 W. 23rd Street
• Parker United Methodist Church 908 S. Tyndall Pkwy.
• Panama City Beach Senior Center 423 Lyndell Ln.
• Lynn Haven Elementary School 300 W. 10th Street (new building behind the school at corner of 10th & Alabama Ave.)
• Palo Alto Church of Christ 3119 N Highway 231
• Supervisor of Election Office 830 W. 11th St.

FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter at @HealthyFla. For more information about the Florida Department of Health please visit www.FloridaHealth.gov.

Wastewater

Bay County’s water and wastewater treatment plant and infrastructure sustained substantial damage.
Despite this, utilities has made significant progress toward repairs, thanks to the help from DEP and FlaWARN.

• Water is being restored to many of the county’s wholesale customers, including Panama City Beach, Panama City, the Airport and unincorporated Bay County. Intermittent loss will occur as crews find and repair leaks. Please be patient.
• If you have any questions about when service will be restored to your city, please call the city’s utility department.
• Water has been restored to many unincorporated Bay County customers in Southport and northern Bay County.
• All unincorporated Bay County wastewater treatment plants and lift stations are operational.
• All wastewater systems are still highly vulnerable. As water services are restored, it is extremely important to limit shower time and flushing.    

   

  Boil Water Order

  Parts of Bay County remain under a mandatory boil water notice, however “Boil Water Orders” have been lifted in Parker, Panama City, Bay County Retail Utility Service Area, Lynn Haven Utility Service Area and Panama City Beach Utility Service Area water systems.

   For residents still under the boil water order:
• If you have utility power or generator power, bring the water to a rolling boil for at least three (3) minutes.
• If you do not have power, use bottled water or eight drops of regular, unscented household bleach per gallon of water to prepare it for cooking use.
• For drinking, cooking, washing wounds, and brushing teeth, use bottled water or boiled water. Water should be held to a rolling boil for one minute.