When Hurricane Isaias passed through Escambia County, the emergency response did not end with the storm.
Emergency crews worked through the night, clearing roads and responding to calls. Inside the county’s Emergency Operations Center, officials coordinated the response as downed trees, blocked roads and dangerous conditions complicated efforts to reach residents.
But at a county commission meeting afterward, officials also confronted another challenge: helping families recover when they could not afford to repair their homes or wait for assistance from the federal government.
A coordinated response through the night
County Administrator Wes Moreno praised the county’s emergency efforts.
“I will tell you that the response for this hurricane is probably the best that I’ve ever seen and been a part of here in Escambia County,” Moreno said.
He described emergency medical crews and public works employees working while the storm was still moving through the area.
“They stayed out in it all the way around the clock till about noon the next day before they took a break and came in," Moreno said. "And they were right back at it that afternoon.”
Eric Gilmore, the county’s public safety director, credited the emergency management team and the county’s community partners with keeping operations organized under difficult conditions.
He said the atmosphere inside the Emergency Operations Center remained calm, allowing personnel to focus on the work in front of them.
“I’ve never been in an EOC or an activation where the room stayed calm, focused, head down,” Gilmore said.
Outside the operations center, however, emergency workers faced difficult decisions about when it was safe to respond.
Downed trees, blocked roads and dangerous power lines sometimes prevented crews from reaching people immediately. Dispatchers had to record calls, prioritize emergencies and tell some residents that help would have to wait.
Gilmore described that responsibility as emotionally difficult for dispatchers.
“It’s just heartbreaking to tell them that I’m sorry, we can’t come to you right now," he said. "It’s unsafe for our crews. We’ll put you on a list.”
Once conditions allowed, dispatchers, firefighters, emergency medical workers and public works crews worked to reach residents and clear access for emergency vehicles.
Gilmore described the coordinated effort as “orchestrated chaos.”
Residents still need help
For Commissioner Lumon May, the recovery effort was about more than clearing roads and documenting damage.
He told fellow commissioners that some residents were waiting for roof repairs while others needed help removing fallen trees and debris from their properties.
May pointed to BRACE, the Be Ready Alliance Coordinating for Emergencies, a local nonprofit that helps coordinate disaster preparedness and recovery resources. But he said the demand for assistance was substantial, and some residents could not afford even the labor needed to install a temporary roof covering.
“We had probably close to 100 people waiting for a roof," May said. "Now they’re getting a tarp. There’s a long line with BRACE. But even if we give them a tarp through the line, they cannot afford to put the tarp on their house.”
May also described visiting Oakwood Terrace after the storm.
“These kids have not even had a warm shower,” he said.
The comment showed the immediate needs that can remain after emergency crews have moved into the recovery phase. A damaged roof or fallen tree can become more than a property problem when a household lacks the money or resources to address it.
May urged the county to use money already set aside for emergencies to help residents who could not wait for federal assistance.
“We often say that we want to build these reserves for emergencies and catastrophes,” he said. “This is an emergency. It’s a catastrophe and people are hurting, and we have the money.”
Why the county cannot simply wait for FEMA
Moreno agreed that the county needed to respond to immediate needs while also pursuing reimbursement for eligible disaster-related expenses.
“We’ve never waited on FEMA before we respond and address issues,” Moreno said. “Now, we do count on that reimbursement, but you have to cross all the T’s and dot all the I’s.”
The distinction matters because the county’s response and recovery costs are not the same as assistance available to individual households.
Public assistance can help eligible governments and certain nonprofit organizations pay for qualifying disaster-related work and damage to public facilities. Individual assistance, by contrast, is intended to help eligible households with qualifying disaster-related needs.
County officials must document damage and response costs to support reimbursement requests. State and federal assessments also help determine whether the damage meets the requirements for individual assistance.
At the commission meeting, Escambia County Emergency Manager Travis Tompkins said the county had provided damage information to the state and that state and federal partners were conducting joint assessments.
He said assessment teams were continuing their work to determine the need for individual assistance.
“We are working very, very hard, to get that individual assistance,” Tompkins said.
An assessment does not guarantee that federal assistance will be approved. The outcome depends on the applicable disaster declaration and federal eligibility requirements.
Where residents can turn for help
While officials worked through the assessment and reimbursement processes, Tompkins encouraged residents who needed help removing debris from their homes to contact Crisis Cleanup.
The service connects people with organizations that may be able to assist with storm cleanup, including fallen trees and roof tarping. Assistance depends on available organizations and volunteers.
“Crisis Cleanup is the one and only number we want to get out there to folks that are needing stuff taken off their house or help with debris,” Tompkins said. “That’s 800-451-1954.”
He said organizations were already responding to requests, although residents might have to wait for someone to contact them.
For people whose homes were damaged, that assistance could be one step toward making their properties safe and livable again.
Recovery continues after the storm
At the commission meeting, officials praised the county employees, emergency responders and community partners who worked through dangerous conditions. They also acknowledged that the work of recovery would continue after the immediate emergency had passed.
For residents struggling with damaged roofs, fallen trees and basic necessities, the need for help was immediate. For the county, the challenge was to address those needs while documenting damage and working with state and federal partners.
May’s account of the children without a warm shower offered a reminder of what those processes mean in everyday life.
The storm may have passed, but for some Escambia County families, the hardest part was finding a way to recover.
