FRANKLIN COUNTY, FL (WTXL) — Franklin County dealt with a range of Isaias impacts — including flooding, power outages and a possible tornado — despite sitting outside the storm's direct cone.
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The storm was the first hurricane of the Atlantic hurricane season. While it was not a direct hit to the Big Bend region, it brought significant effects to several counties, including Franklin, Wakulla and Taylor.
Franklin County Sheriff AJ Smith said flooding varied across the county depending on location, with a large amount of water rising on St. George Island and covering the beach. Three to six inches of rain throughout the county also contributed to flooding.
Neighbors at a boat ramp along the Apalachicola River said the water had mostly receded to near-normal levels, though it remained slightly higher than usual. A line of debris along the riverbank marked how high the water had risen during the storm.
"There were you know houses that had a lot of rainwater around them, and haven't had any reports of any houses flooded. But a lot of them were close. Some of the streets downtown here were were flooded. Over in East Point, the water was close to the road. I think even on the causeways, water went across one lane because there was a lot of debris on the on the on the road this morning," Smith said.
Mandatory evacuations that went into effect ahead of Friday's storm — including the barrier islands, Alligator Point, mobile homes and RV parks — have since been lifted.
The storm also knocked out power to the Franklin County Jail. The weather took out one of the main power lines feeding the jail, and the facility's aging generator failed, leaving it without power.
"It you know has a lot of impact because you know you have no lights, you have no air conditioning, things like that. So, you know, we've been able to overcome that. We had portable lights and fans and stuff," Smith said.
Neighbor Phil Shelley said flooding reached his yard, coming within about an inch of entering his home.
"We had about five feet, so it came right up to where you're standing and I'm standing here. So the whole road was covered. It came within about an inch of going in that house. So, but otherwise, the wind damage wasn't bad. We're picking up all these branches now. There's quite a lot of small branches down," Shelley said.
While the storm surge and winds were not the worst Shelley had ever seen, he said the impacts were greater than from previous recent hurricanes.
"But this time we did get quite a lot. The bay here was pretty pretty nasty looking, and large waves coming in. And if you could see out there, which is probably hard to see, but out there, all of the marsh that was standing six to eight feet in reeds has all been flattened, and there's a piece of a dock out here that somebody lost that was blown up in the back of the marsh here," Shelley said.
Shelley said he believes Franklin County was not impacted as badly because of how officials prepared.
"I think this county did a good job on preparing. They were, you know, they communicated well. They got people out of harm's way. I think they did a good job, and I didn't really hear many problems," Shelley said.
The impacts stretched across the region. In Wakulla County, Emergency Management Director Jennifer Nagy said in a video posted to Facebook Saturday morning that the county largely escaped major damage, with just three to four trees down, about 2,500 power outages and one damaged home.
Taylor County Emergency Management Director Danny Glover said there wasn't much damage in his county either, with some storm surge and a couple of trees down.
Sheriff Smith credited the county's ability to handle the storm to a team effort involving the county, emergency management, the state, and Franklin County neighbors.
The Atlantic hurricane season runs through November 30.
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