Florida Catholic | Tornado Passes Pastoral Center

PEGGY DEKEYSER | FC
An Oct. 18 tornado reduced Frank Brinson’s house at the corner of B and Jackson streets in Pensacola to rubble. Eight people were in the home at the time of the storm and escaped with only minor injuries. The Santa Claus is one of the few mementos Brinson was able to salvage from the wreckage, but he said that he felt “blessed to just be up walking around.” “God is in control,” he said on the day after the storm.

Tornado damages property but spares lives

Diocese’s downtown staff count their blessings.

PEGGY DEKEYSER | FLORIDA CATHOLIC

Published: 10.26.07

PENSACOLA | There was no warning. Diocesan staff members at work in the Msgr. James Amos Pastoral Center, at the corner of B and Garden streets, looked out office windows at about 10 a.m. Oct. 18 to see menacing black clouds, debris bits swirling and lampposts swaying like small trees in the roaring winds. On the third floor, one looked out of the stewardship office to see a funnel cloud snake past. The 4-year-old office building creaked a bit. Employees took cover in interior hallways. Then it was over.

An F1 tornado that tore a path from the mouth of Bayou Chico across Pensacola to Scenic Highway narrowly missed the Pastoral Center property. The Catholic Charities regional immigration office on C Street near Garden lost a few shingles. Fortunately, that was the extent of the damage assessment of church properties, according to Deacon Jeff Trumps, chief financial officer for the diocese.

Others were not so fortunate. Two blocks west of the Pastoral Center on Garden Street, an unoccupied building was heavily damaged. Six blocks north, at the corner of B and Jackson streets, four homes were destroyed. Another three blocks north, at the corner of A and Cervantes streets, the Rock Day Care Center lost its roof and had its windows blown in by the storm. None of the 15 children and no staffers inside the building were hurt beyond minor cuts and bruises. The Greater Little Rock Baptist Church, which operates the day care center, sustained major roof damage. Parts of its metal roof were strewn like giant green pretzels for blocks along the storm’s path. Again, no one was injured.

The toll from the storm, while bad, could have been much worse: no deaths, four persons treated at one area hospital for non-life-threatening injuries, at least four homes destroyed, 24 houses with major damage, another 56 homes with minor damage, numerous boats at Pensacola Yacht Club’s boatyard tossed about and heavily damaged, one church with major damage, one day care center with major damage, one newly renovated athletic field heavily damaged, vehicles at a major shopping complex tossed about and damaged.

In other parts of the diocese, although there were many weather warnings, record-breaking heavy rains and flash flooding, there was no significant damage to church property.

Throughout the storms, students in Catholic schools participated in their planned disaster modes and were dismissed as normal. All evening school activities were cancelled Thursday.

Susan Mueller, superintendent of schools, said that all schools have disaster drills, so students and teachers knew exactly what to do and were kept safe throughout the storm. She reminded parents that during a weather emergency, it is usually safer to leave children in school than to pick them up and travel in dangerous conditions. “The safety and well-being of all our students is topmost in our minds and in our planning, so we were well-prepared and all went according to plan,” she said.

Catholic Charities is prepared to offer assistance to those in need, and is working with the American Red Cross and other usual early responders, according to Mark Dufva, executive director.

On a day that saw juicy tropical air masses clashing violently with a cold front that ran from the Gulf Coast to northern Wisconsin, Pensacola was a town in which many people were counting their blessings.

It was a day on which many could echo Bishop John H. Ricard’s episcopal motto: God Is Gracious!

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Tornado damages property but spares lives

Diocese’s downtown staff count their blessings.

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