STEINHATCHEE, Fla. (WTXL) — A year after Hurricane Helene, Steinhatchee businesses like Roy's Restaurant are on a slow but steady road to recovery, helping the community rebuild its economy and find its 'new normal.'
- Taylor County's unemployment rate nearly doubled the state's average in 2024, following an earlier closure of two of its largest manufacturers and the loss of trees.
- At least 45 businesses were directly impacted by the hurricane, according to the Taylor County Chamber of Commerce, including a completely destroyed Roy's Restaurant.
- Watch the video to see how the owner of Roy's and its economy are faring since Hurricane Helene made landfall.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Owning a business for 20-plus years can come with its challenges, especially on the coast of Steinhatchee.
It’s something Roy’s Restaurant Owner Linda Wicker knows well.
“We’ve had a number of hurricanes since we've owned Roy’s, but nothing like this,” she said.
The most recent challenge — Hurricane Helene.
It made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane a year ago.
“The roof was over on a property adjacent to us…no kitchen equipment. The interior walls, exterior walls, all gone, totally,” Wicker said, describing the damage. “That's the slab. That's all that's left of the restaurant as it was.”
“What do you kind of think of when you look at this? I know you see this everyday,” ABC 27’s Brieanna Smith asked Wicker.
“Well, it’s sad, but it just marks a new beginning,” she said.
ABC 27 talked to Taylor County Development Authority’s Executive Director Bob Cate.
He says the hurricane not only dealt a blow to local businesses but the county’s largest industries, like wood manufacturing.
“We had lost our first and third largest employers just the year before,” he said.
According to Cate, the mill closures created a loss of at least 700 jobs.
Jobs were also indirectly lost through the destruction of trees
The unemployment rate rose to 6% in 2024 nearly 3% higher than the state’s average, according to the Florida Department of Health.
“So, with the loss of all the homes and the impact of the hurricane, it really was devastating for Taylor County,” Cate said.
But he credits the resilience of the people who live there for the economic recovery they're seeing now.
The county is actively attracting more industries and helping neighbors rebuild homes,
“We see things as improving, but we're nowhere near where we want to be,” Cate said.
Wicker has since reopened using food trailers.
“The menu's been cut back a little bit just because of the size of the kitchen,” she said. “But the food trailer has helped keep some of our employees.”
She’s in the process of rebuilding what was lost, hoping to be done by the next summer or fall.
“Typically, we'd be back up and running four or five months, and, you know, everything kind of back to normal, and I'm not sure we know what the new normal is,” she said.
At least 45 other businesses in Taylor County were directly impacted by the storm, according to the Taylor County Chamber of Commerce.
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