Two years later, the impacts of Hurricane Michael persist in the Florida Panhandle – Tallahassee Democrat

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BLOUNTSTOWN Its been two years since Hurricane Michael barreled into the Panhandle. But Molly Glass is still dealing with its wrath.

The storms Category 5 winds had split her house, a double-wide in Blountstown along the Chipola River. It wasnt until January more than a year after the storm that a local charity was finally able to install a new roof on her home.

But months later, one morning in June, Glass heard a sharp crack echo through her home.

She jumped out of bed and ran toward the sound. To her horror, she saw an arch of electrical current shooting out of a power outlet in the bathroom. The room filled with smoke.

As Glass flipped the main breaker, her husband scooped up their 18-month-old grandson and they ran out of the house.

Molly Glass peers down at the ground through a hole in the floor of her bathroom Thursday, Oct. 8, 2020. She and her husband Tony made repairs on their home after damage from Hurricane Michael two years ago and moved back in, only to realize it had more serious issues with electrical wires in the walls earlier this year, also caused by the storm and threatening to burn the place down. The two have once again moved out and are working on more repairs.(Photo: Tori Lynn Schneider/Tallahassee Democrat)

A fire marshal came out there, Glass said. After taking a look, the woman said, " Yall have been living in a death trap.

Michaels winds had damaged the electrical wiring. The house could have burnt down.

Shes not the only one still wading through damage. As they watched life-threatening Hurricane Delta churn through the Gulf for a landfall in Louisiana Friday morning, many residents throughout the rural Panhandle are still rebuilding after Michaels aftermath amid the COVID-19 crisis.

Jana Whitehead, a disaster case manager at Catholic Charities of Northwest Florida, juggles about a dozen cases at a time with survivors in Calhoun and Liberty counties. The nonprofit has assisted about 60 families over the past year, she said.

Theres people that still have leaky roofs. Im one of them actually, said Whitehead, a retired Calhoun County teacher. Those roofs have damage underneath the underlayment of the roofs are now deteriorated so bad that they have to be replaced.

Molly and Tony Glass stand in front of the ripped apart bathroom in their home, which is currently undergoing repairs after major electrical issues were discovered in their walls earlier this year, lingering damage from Hurricane Michael two years ago.(Photo: Tori Lynn Schneider/Tallahassee Democrat)

Glass husband is a carpenter, and she cleans, paints and installs flooring in student housing apartments in Tallahassee.

While staying at a friends home, Glass and her husband are tearing down the walls to make room for electricians to inspect and repair the electrical damage.

Even before her house almost caught fire, Glass was on edge. She knew that something was wrong with the electricity: Outlets would melt, she said, and wiring turned red but didnt illuminate a light bulb.

"Not only did my business get shut down completely with this coronavirus, Im scared to death I cant sleep at night, afraid our house was going to burn up," Glass said.

The disaster and its aftermath have taken a toll on her mental health, she added: The ongoing stress of repairs is compounded by the trauma of living through the storm itself.

Now if the wind blows just a little bit, Im under the bed. I will never be OK after that storm, Glass said.

Molly Glass tears up as she holds a framed gift of her son's Ren's handprints and a poem he gave her for Christmas before he died at 9-years-old. Glass was grateful that her keepsakes of her son were not harmed when Hurricane Michael damaged her home two years ago. (Photo: Tori Lynn Schneider/Tallahassee Democrat)

She was alreadystruggling with PTSD before the storm. Several years ago, Glass lost her son Ren. Her little boywas 9 years old when he died. All she has left are keepsakes of him that can't be replaced. Glasswas relieved those weren't burnedin a housefire or destroyed in the storm.

Alternative housing is hard to find in the vast, sparsely populated rural counties, Whitehead said. In many cases, survivors are living in rental properties that landlords cant afford to fix.

We cant help the rental owner because theyre not living in the house its a money maker for them and they did not have insurance on those rental properties, she explained. Its a liability. It has to be by the homeowner thats living in the home. And theres definitely a housing shortage. No place for people to go.

About a quarter of residents in Liberty County and afifth of residents in Calhoun County are living in poverty, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Many can't afford to move elsewhere because of work or because they simply cant afford to move.

Craig Fugate, former FEMA administrator and formerdirector of the state's Emergency Management Division, called that difficulty the resiliency divide. He spoke in a Thursday webinar hosted by Rebuild850, where local leaders discussed a need to create morejobs as well as other priorities to help boost the economy ofMichael-afflicted Big Bend counties.

They've endureda double hit from both the storm and the coronavirus, which threatened businesses, including Glass'. Her business closed down for three months as campuses shut down and students moved home.

Molly Glass stands in her home outside of Blountstown which is currently undergoing major repairs for the second time in two years because of damage from Hurricane Michael. (Photo: Tori Lynn Schneider/Tallahassee Democrat)

Those who dont have the resources to rebuild or move oftentimes end up in the same situation in future disasters, Fugate said.

Were not out of the woods yet, said state Sen. Bill Montford, who is originally from Blountstown. The whole issue of jobs was a problem even before Michael. We literally have people driving 100 miles ...to Panama City to work Weve got to have private investment.

For now, Glass toils away over the weekends to slowly ensure her house is livable again.

That kind of toll onmental health is among thehealth impacts the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine is studying among storm survivors. The CLEO Institute, aclimate change advocacy and education group, worked withUM to survey Hurricane Michael survivors on health effects post-storm. The groups also surveyed survivors of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Ricoand Hurricane Irma survivors in South Florida.

The groups will release data by the end of this month, saidlead researcher Naresh Kumar. And the first wave of research analysis is slated to be presented atan annual climate and health symposiumnext month.

Damage from Hurricane Michael can be seen on the ceiling of Molly and Tony Glass' home outside of Blountstown Thursday, Oct. 8, 2020, two years after the storm. (Photo: Tori Lynn Schneider/Tallahassee Democrat)

Kumar, a professor who specializes in environmental health,found that Panhandle residents' hospital visits the year after Michael decreased. He hypothesizes that's because people were insurvival mode.

"One of the things I focus on is the persistence of health effects after these storms," Kumar said. "Generally people think about days or weeks but thats not the case."

One issue, he says, is the onset of certain health conditions, such as a delayed reaction to mold.

Those minor leaks might result in a significant increase in mold," Kumar said. "You may get sensitized. You may begin to develop allergies (to mold) which you were not earlier allergic to.

"The environmental modifications dont reinstate right after the storm. They persist for years," he said.

2019 File Photo: Kaye Elmore and her grandson Camron Elmore, 6, walk through the living room of the home they shared before a tree fell on the roof during Hurricane Michael last year, destroying the home and forcing them to find somewhere else to stay.(Photo: Tori Schneider/Tallahassee Democrat)

Pollen count increases as tree and vegetation regrowth happens, Kumar said, aggravating those with asthma, allergies and other respiratory conditions.

Whitehead says as people remain indoors during stay-at-home orders to prevent spread of the novel coronavirus, they're "surrounded by the damage" indoors. COVID-19 has prevented the charity from doing indoor repairs.

"You walk outside and you see the remnants of those trees orthe little Dr. Seuss trees that have been growing two or three puffs with the overhang," she said. "It used to be that you walk outside and see the trees."

Glass reminisces, gazing at old photos of her intact home, a gathering place for the holidays and her adult children's families.

"We had a beautiful life in that bruised and battered home and we will again," she said."Those were the best of times. But there will be more."

For now though, as she rummages through the repair journey, Michael is"the storm that just keeps on giving."

Donate to nonprofits helping those still in need of repairs:

Reach Nada Hassanein at nhassanein@tallahassee.com or on Twitter @nhassanein_.

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Two years later, the impacts of Hurricane Michael persist in the Florida Panhandle - Tallahassee Democrat