PANAMA CITY BEACH Local officials are considering whether to install tornado sirens across the Beach.
During a City Council meeting last week, Chief Ray Morgan of Panama City Beach Fire Rescue presented councilmen with information about warning systems, including where speakers could be mounted, their coverage areas and how much they would cost. Three tornadoes touched down in Bay County just a few days later, two in the Panama City Beach area.
Along with alerting the public about severe weather, Morgan added that the devices could be customized to announce local alerts from the city or Bay County Emergency Services.
PANAMA CITY The Florida Forest Service has launched a new wildfire prevention education initiative for the Panhandle, which still has thousands of downed trees from Hurricane Michael.
Called Be Wildfire Ready, the campaign is designed to increase the public s awareness of how they can help prevent and prepare for a wildfire. Residents can visit BeWildfireReadyFL.com to view tools and tips on how to safely burn yard waste, create defensible space around their homes and prepare an emergency supply kit.
During a press conference Thursday in Tallahassee, members of the forest service said in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael in 2018, there is still a threat to life, homes and communities. More than 2.8 million acres of trees were destroyed during the Category 5 storm and much remains on the ground today, ready to burn, a forest service press release states.
The News Herald/ USA TODAY NETWORK
The News Herald
PANAMA CITY Bay County expects to get 1,500 first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine each week for the foreseeable future, health officials announced on Saturday.
The 1,500 doses a week allocation is based on the county’s population of seniors 65 years old and older, a Florida Department of Health in Bay County press release states. Currently, only residents in that age demographic and frontline health care workers can get the vaccine in the state.
The press release states that of the 1,500 weekly doses, 500 will be given to DOH-Bay and 1,000 will be allocated among the five Publix grocery stores in the county. Until now, amounts of the vaccine shipped to the county have varied.