Hurricane Idalia's wrath scars 'The Tree Capital of the South': Perry, Florida

PERRY, Fla. — About 48 hours after Hurricane Idalia uprooted trees and downed power lines in the small mill town of Perry, just inland from the coast from where the storm made landfall, Jerry Wells Summed up the situation.

“If you don’t have a generator, you are going to be in deep trouble,” said Wells, who expects to be without electricity for a month.

Wells had filled a half-dozen 5-gallon containers with gasoline at a Citgo station along U.S. 19 and was holding a 14-gallon container steady while his spouse Anne pumped it full. 

Except for a six-year stint in the Air Force, Wells has spent all of his 78 years in Taylor County, part of the Big Bend where the peninsula merges into the Panhandle and where Perry, a town of about 7,000, is located. He said Idalia is the worst hurricane he has ever seen.  

Idalia arrived as a Category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds near 125, splitting trees in half, ripping roofs off hotels and turning small cars into boats before sweeping into Georgia and South Carolina.

“All the way up (U.S.) 19 through Taylor County the forest is just devastated. I don’t know how many people have trees in their homes. It’s turning into a tarp village,” said Wells, who estimates he has spent $1,000 on gas to power a generator. 

“If we don’t (stockpile gasoline). We lose everything in our freezer, in the refrigerator. And, yeah, the humidity at night, with the windows open? Ain’t no way in hell you sleep,” Wells said.  

Don Everett owns the gas station where Wells was filling up. 

He spent part of Friday directing traffic in the parking lot as a long line of cars and trucks waited for fuel. 

HOW TO HELP:A Florida guide to giving, volunteering after Hurricane Idalia ravages Big Bend

The gas station sits along Perry’s business district where Idalia punched out the signage when it pounded the region with hurricane-force winds. 

The gusts ripped from the foundation one of the canopies Everett had over an island of gas pumps – it will cost an estimated $175,000 to replace it, he said.  

“It’s just a madhouse down here, just amazing. It’s like a bomb went off. That’s all there is to it,” said Everett. 

Everett said he was down on the coast during the Storm of the Century in 1993, which produced an 11-foot storm surge and spawned tornadoes that claimed three lives. 

He thinks Idalia in Perry is 10 times worse than the Storm of the Century was in Steinhatchee. 

“We didn’t lose power then. But now you got all these trees down. And all the power lines down. That’s the biggest thing ... no power,” said Everett. 

Ninety-three percent (12,863) of the customers with Duke Energy and/or the Tri-County Electric Co-op, in Taylor County were without electrical service at sunset Friday. But by dawn Saturday, 50% of customers were back online

“We will just pick up the pieces, you know, as soon as we get the power on,” said Everett. 

'The Tree Capital of the South' becomes the 'Florida Chainsaw Massacre'

Perry’s history, economy, and identity is rooted in forestry and the trees that plunged it into the dark for Labor Day Weekend 2023.  

In 1965 then-Gov. Haydon Burns cited 525,000 forested acres in Taylor County to proclaim Perry “The Tree Capital of the South.” 

Since 1954, the Foley paper mill there, now operated by Georgia Pacific, has harvested fibers from pine trees to produce more than 5,000 paper products. Today the Foley plant provides 600 jobs, according to media reports, which would be 12% of the jobs in Taylor County, according to the U.S. Census. 

Nearly a quarter of the local economy is tied to the plant.  

West of the city, the tops of rows of 6-foot pines tilt to the northeast, pointing to Idalia’s path. Within 30 miles of Perry, pine straw, limbs, debris and downed power lines begin to appear along U.S. 98, the Scenic Coast Highway. 

Ten miles out, power poles are broken into pieces and uprooted trees litter yards. 

Once in the city, the sides of roads and sidewalks are blocked by neat piles of sawed pine and oak trunks. 

“We staged the Florida Chainsaw Massacre,” said Father Matthew Busch of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, in Perry with a smile when asked about the debris lining the roadway to his church. 

Tallahassee descends on Perry to help its neighbors

Thursday morning, supplies from Second Harvest of the Big Bend and other groups began to arrive with volunteers from Tallahassee to unload, bag and cook. 

Busch said groups from the World Center Kitchen, Catholic Student Union at Florida State University, Catholic Charities and the Knights of Columbus prepared and distributed 700 meals Thursday – and another 1,500 by noon Friday. 

“As soon as we put up signs that said free food, traffic started rolling in,” said Busch as a line of cars backed up at least a quarter mile on the Parkway to pick up prepared meals.  

Across town at a Winn-Dixie parking lot, next to a FEMA staging area for supplies to help homeowners, a Salvation Army food truck was on pace to distribute 3,000 meals of beef and beans on Friday, according to Major Thomas Richmond. 

Vickie Gatlin waited in line, hugging a four-pack of paper towels she picked up from FEMA. 

Gatlin considers herself a hurricane veteran, having lived in Panama City when Michael struck in 2018. 

“I know what to expect,” she said, as the heat index exceeded 100 degrees Friday. “We can’t get power. We can’t get cell service. People need tarps. And we need help with these trees. It’s hot."

The 53-year-old Gatlin and husband Jimmy evacuated to Marianna when Idalia approached Taylor County. They returned Thursday to find their home intact but with no electricity. To beat the heat Friday, they and their five dogs were spending the day in an air-conditioned pickup truck. 

Congressman Neal Dunn, R-Panama City, praised Florida’s preparation and response to the storm as he toured Perry, Steinhatchee, and Keaton Beach, Friday.

“I don’t think any other state could have responded this quickly," Dunn said. 

With Tallahassee escaping the brunt of Hurricane Idalia's wrath, this story is part of a continuing series profiling hard-hit communities. James Call is a member of the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at [email protected]. Follow on Twitter: @CallTallahassee