Tallahassee's Railroad Square cleans up after storms, shops ask for community support
After the skies cleared Friday, Gregg Pla, owner of Talquin Trading Co. in Railroad Square, had about 50 people cleaning up his store.
He didn't know most of them.
"It was crazy. That's how awesome the community is," Pla said.
On Saturday morning, he and his partner Jackie Skelding, who owns Rare Bird Interiors also in Railroad Square, were finishing up hauling things out of the store to put into storage. Wet area rugs hung outside the warehouse, dripping dry, while Pla and Skelding packed water damaged books into a box.
The two, along with other Railroad Square business owners, were still assessing the damage from Friday morning's severe storms and tornadoes. Skelding has a hole in the roof of her store. Pla doesn't really have a roof anymore.
"We're just looking at the sky," Skelding said.
Tallahassee is recovering from widespread destruction after Friday’s storms, which could go down in history as the city’s worst tornado outbreak ever. Wind gusts as high as 100 mph and as many as three different tornadoes descended upon the capital, snapping trees in half across roads and downing power lines, leaving almost 80,000 residents without power.
In a Facebook post Friday night, the Railroad Square Art District, owned by developer Adam Kaye, wrote that the area was closed to the public. By Saturday, U.S. Sen. Rick Scott had stopped by to assess the damage.
"We know your hearts and minds are with the many, many wonderful and unique small businesses within the Art District," the post reads. "Some have witnessed their livelihoods be devastated, some businesses are intact, and others are somewhere in-between."
It was too early for a weekend, but the bangs of hammers and the hum of generators could be heard throughout Railroad Square. There still wasn't power, and insulation and ceiling tiles still covered parts of the road, but business owners were already working to clear out and start over.
"As soon as these businesses around here are up and running again, please, please, please come and support them," said Rob McDole, the owner of Flippin Great, a pinball arcade.
"They're gonna invest a lot of time, a lot of materials, a lot of money that they probably don't have right now, to get up and running. And there's some that aren't ever going to be able to do that."
McDole's business, located in the back of Railroad Square, suffered water damage from leaks in the roof, but he said it wasn't as bad as some of his neighbors.
"We're not giving up on the community, so hopefully the community won't give up on us," he said.
Ana Goñi-Lessan can be reached at agonilessan@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Railroad Square cleans up after storms, shops ask for support
