“The flooding on the streets on the peninsula would not have occurred.”ĬHARLESTON, S.C. “None of the damage that we’re seeing now coming in and the damage assessments would have occurred,” he said. If the sea wall had been built in time for Idalia, “the peninsula would have been dry,” said Dale Morris, the city’s chief resilience officer. A Charleston city police officer blocks off Lockwood Drive in Charleston on Wednesday. The city has been working with the Army Corps of Engineers to design such a wall, but it has received pushback from some local residents who worry it would be too tall and imposing. Officials said there were 51 road closures throughout the city, but they have all since reopened.Ĭity officials said the flooding highlighted the need to construct a sea wall around the Charleston peninsula to help protect against storms and rising sea levels. Mayor John Tecklenburg at a news conference Thursday. Still, Mayor John Tecklenburg said Charleston “really dodged the bullet again.” There was also a 30% increase in call volume, he said. “Most of the activity for the department was between the hours of 7 p.m. “We had 22 water rescues, predominantly removing people from vehicles in flooded areas,” Dan Curia, the fire chief of the city of Charleston, said during a news conference early Thursday afternoon. City officials said emergency personnel responded to nearly two dozen water rescues Wednesday night as high tides fueled by Idalia quickly flooded some streets downtown, but the city “really dodged a bullet again.” He spent Thursday helping a local restaurant clean up.ĬHARLESTON, S.C. I’ve never experienced anything like it,” he said.Įvans’ family home was spared. He described watching as the hurricane slammed boats into a bridge near the marina. Jessup Evans, 18, also evacuated with his family. Richard Carmichael's house in Steinhatchee, Fla. The town has not had electricity since the hurricane rolled through. Debris remains scattered across front yards, and portions of a destroyed boat dock floated in the river. Large trees and downed power lines still blocked streets leading to the marina Thursday. “I’m going to leave this empty down here so I won’t have to go through this again,” he said. He said he plans to live only on the second floor of his home in the future. Minyvonne Burke / NBC Newsĭespite the destruction, Carmichael is maintaining a positive attitude, saying, “I’ve been blessed. What I have to do is take all this stuff and dump it.” A brown line shows how high the water rose in Richard Carmichael's house in Steinhatchee, Fla. “I thought I was prepared, but I didn’t put the stuff up high enough,” Carmichael said. He moved lamps and small appliances to the kitchen counter and raised couches and chairs high off the floor. The storm wiped out the first floor of his home, destroying furniture and leaving mud caked on the floor.Ĭarmichael, a Florida native, tried to prepare the best he could before evacuating. Half a dozen local church members were helping Richard Carmichael, 79, clear his riverfront property. Cleanup was underway in the small coastal community Thursday afternoon after Hurricane Idalia sent more than 5 feet of water rushing into homes along the Steinhatchee River. Since it went into effect on July 1, some farm and construction workers have moved out the state because of fears around the law. Ron DeSantis’ stringent immigration law that imposes restrictions and penalties to deter the employment of undocumented workers in Florida. “Who is going to do all of this work? There is a lot, a lot of work here.” “This is where all the immigrants that the governor wants to push out are needed,” Maggie Vidal told Noticias Telemundo in Spanish. That’s when it became clear to them that immigrant construction workers like them will be key to rebuilding what Idalia destroyed. The Vidals got down to work shortly after the hurricane passed, even before the hotel’s manager was able to return to the building. As Florida residents emerge from Hurricane Idalia, some have started to assess the damage and clean up after the trail of destruction the storm left behind.Īmong them are Mexican workers Alberto, Maggie and Jorge Vidal, who weathered out the storm inside a 30-room hotel where they work, in the city of Perry.
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