Florida towns well on the way to recovery after busy hurricane season

The mayor of Cedar Key, Florida, says they're open for business this holiday season after destruction from hurricanes two years in a row.

Transcript

00:00It was such a busy season and so much destruction that we wanted to check back in on some of the

00:05towns. One of the hardest hit areas was the Big Bend of Florida here and Cedar Key was hit very

00:14hard last August 30th by Hurricane Idalia. And then of course I saw huge issues this year.

00:22Sue Colson is Cedar Key's mayor. We talked to you a lot during hurricane season so we wanted to

00:27check back in. You had some very very strong and heartfelt messages about your town. How is

00:33everybody doing now? Well we're well on our way to recovery. We are mostly recovered with the

00:42buildings that were not severely damaged. We're looking to do better and more prepared things

00:49on how we approach storms now. So when people are putting back their buildings they are doing it

00:55with the thought of resiliency and it's amazing what they've come up with.

01:02And it said that you guys recovered pretty quickly here. What are some of the

01:09procedures and other safety measures that you're putting into place?

01:14Well of course there's always elevation hardening of the downstairs of areas.

01:20Also learning what blowout walls mean and not putting things there that we shouldn't.

01:25Adhering to all the codes and getting back at getting things done quickly. Having response

01:32ready before the storm. Having all our response ready to go. So we were very quick to clean up

01:40debris and this year we added a tremendous marine debris program to get the marine debris as well

01:46as the land debris up. It's been a long process but in terms of other areas of the state we've

01:54been moving quite quickly and I think it's because there's such a group effort to get everything done

02:00and get people back to visit us and that's the big important thing and we're open for business

02:04which is exciting. Yeah that was my next question Mary Colson. I mean it's December in the northeast

02:10the midwest it's cold people want to go down to Florida. So how are your businesses getting

02:14prepared for tourism? We are ready. We have just had a beautiful event at our park. Our park is

02:23decorated completely. We had our big Christmas tree survive storage which was a miracle and we

02:31put that up. We've had several events at the park. The land and the beauty of the sea and the island

02:38itself has not been damaged. It's just the businesses and the buildings which we cleaned up and

02:45we're forging forward and things are a little different. Some of the businesses are actually on

02:50wheels and that's a good idea. So coffee shop on wheels is a great idea. Our restaurants are

02:59opening up and we're just excited that we are ready to have people come and visit. You know

03:04most people come to Cedar Key at Christmas for the Norman Rockwell experience and that was

03:13definitely evident last night in our park. Santa Claus came as always on the fire truck and was

03:20able to distribute toys to everyone. So things are normalizing. That's the most important word I can

03:26use is normalizing. Well we're so happy that things are going much better for you Mary Colson. It's

03:31such a beautiful area. Of course it is always prone to hurricanes but it sounds to me like

03:37you and your community have recovered and will continue to make everything safe for any future

03:44storms heading your way. Building it back better and smarter. Love that. Let's make some t-shirts.

03:50I'll get one. Better, stronger and smarter. I think that describes you Mary Colson as well.

03:57No I'm older. You said it. Sue Colson, Cedar Keys Mayor. Thank you and happy

04:04holidays. We appreciate you joining us. Happy holidays to y'all. Thank you very much.