If there is one person who knows what to do about reopening an economy after a crisis, that's Mark McQueen, the city manager for Panama City during the time of Hurricane Michael 18 months ago when it hit the Florida Panhandle of 40,000.


Hurricane Michael and COVID-19

Looking back, the Category 5 storm wrecked thousands of homes and, at the same time, smashed many commercial buildings into splinters, tearing off roofs and blowing over telephone poles and trees. Since these devastations, McQueen has led the initiative to rebuild the city, including its economy.

Impressively, he was joined by the nation in its efforts to switch out a COVID-19 shutdown in the weeks, and even months, yet to come. In several ways, the city will begin reopening from behind the rest of the nation since it has not yet fully recovered from Michael.

And in other ways, Panama has an advantage. People here are already familiar with what an economic reboot involves. Recalling his job when the storm hit, retired two-star general, McQueen said, "It was less than a month," when he was winding up his over three decades of military career while still commanding over 8,000 soldiers.

During the transition, he said, he took a break to donate a kidney to a member of a church he hardly knew, whose health was deteriorating. He recalled, his "first day on the job was September 24, and Hurricane Michael took place two weeks after that."

Historic Damage

The damage Hurricane Micheal caused was said to be historic. There were 14,000 evacuated residents and over 5,000 homeless children instantly. One of the significant tasks of McQueen was to oversee the "removal of debris of about 3.8 million cubic yards." That is equivalent to 38 years' value of standard collections.

McQueen said, there was a little help from the federal government. Relatively, Panama City received lesser federal and state financial aid than the other cities which Michael hit. The city was still under recovery when the COVID-19 pandemic took place.

Not all businesses got the chance to reopen. Incidentally, the City Commission voted to prolong the state of emergency order for the said storm on April 14. This was the same day the state of emergency for the pandemic also got intended.


A Great Deal Accomplished

According to McQueen, "The lessons learned from Hurricane Micahel are instantaneously applicable to the effort that needs to be done in Panama City," and in the entire nation to withstand the impairment COVID-19 has brought.

Over 1,000 Floridians have died from COVID-19 since the first recorded death of the state in February. More so, Florida has recorded 30,000 confirmed cases. Relatively, Panama City is considered as the county seat for Bay County, which currently has 63 cases and two deaths reported.

Several other states, which include neighboring Georgia, have reportedly started their controversial initiatives to reopen. Meanwhile, Florida stays under the stay-at-home order until end-April.

However, Gov. Ron DeSantis already gave several municipalities the go-signal to reopen beaches. The governor asked his state COVID-19 task force, though, for a phase-in strategy as it reopens the state.


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