Majority of residents in Apalachicola evacuated before Hurricane Helene landfall

FRANKLIN COUNTY, Fla. ( WMBB ) – Apalachicola looked like a ghost town early Thursday morning as a majority of residents and visitors evacuated before Hurricane Helene’s landfall.

A select few residents decided to wait out the storm, some citing they’d been through this many times before.

“I’ve never experienced a really bad one, you know? I mean, I’ve been here all my life, and I’ve never saw really terrible damage here in Apalachicola. So, I’m just going to stay,” Apalachicola resident Wallace Cumbie said.

“I’ve been through lots and lots of them all the way back to the 85′ hurricanes, and Michael, and all of those. I did leave during Michael, but this time of day with Michael it was really bad,” Apalachicola resident Greg Kembro said.

For other residents, Hurricane Helene serves as their first encounter with a major storm.

“This is my first storm like this. It’s kind of exciting, it’s not like a good excitement, but I’m prepared as it gets. There’s nothing else I can do now but let it rain,” Apalachicola resident Blake Thompson said.

Each has different ideas as to how they’ll pass the time as Helene passes through.

“I’m riding it out with my boss and some fellow coworkers. We’re all staying on higher ground and we got the work trucks ready to go,” Thompson said.

“I will probably go to my church, Fellowship Baptist Church,” Cumbie said.

The decision to stay for certain residents was influenced by the fact that work will need to be done and others will need help.

“There’s going to be work to do afterward and I live in a safe place. I feel like I have confidence in my home and I’m on high ground. If I was in a low-lying place, I would have been gone,” Thompson said.

And with a supply of food and water stocked and gas in their cars, there’s only one thing left for these residents to do.

“Best thing I can say is, I don’t know what the future holds, but I know who holds the future, so God be with us,” Kembro said.

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