Red Cross set to ride into desperate Lanark Village after Hurricane Michael

Three days of no electricity and busy signals left Susan Lynn desperate.

Hurricane Michael downed Franklin County’s electrical system and washed away a section of U.S. 98, the scenic highway that is the county’s main artery.

Lynn had been unable to get through to the Red Cross or Franklin County authorities to get help, so she vented to a reporter.

She wanted to talk about her Lanark Village neighbors, who she described as “more than 70 percent over the age of 70,” and their sister-city Carrabelle, where most residents scratch a living from the sea, forest and Gulf tourists.

“The people of Franklin County can’t even buy a loaf of bread right now,” said Lynn about the situation.

The frustration in Lynn’s voice grew as she described circular phone conversations with volunteers and officials with the state and national relief groups about a lack of water, food and other supplies for Franklin’s 11,000 residents.

There is no Red Cross Shelter in Franklin. One must travel 32 miles north to Crawfordville or 52 miles west to Port. St. Joe – but one can’t take that route, sections of U.S. 98 are closed.

“It’s like we fell right through the crack,” said Lynn.

Nearly a decade ago Susan and Frank Lynn sold their Tallahassee Summerbrooke home and retired to the coast.

They rode out the storm in a bungalow along Oak Street in Lanark. Thursday morning, they were picking up after Michael along U.S. 98 when they encountered folks walking along the damaged roadway from Carrabelle, 14 miles to the south.

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 “Do you know where there’s water?" they asked. "Do you know when we’ll get help?”

The next two days Lynn worked the telephones.

“They don’t know what I know,” said the retired security broker about her Carrabelle and Lanark neighbors and the art required to navigate bureaucracies.

“Not that I’m having any luck,” Lynn quickly added.

Earlier she spent a couple of hours working the telephone.  In one circular call she was passed from agency to agency before landing where she had started. The volunteer suggested she check a state website for assistance.

“What part of three days of no electricity did you not understand,” was Lynn’s knee-jerk reaction to the suggestion.

A friend in Georgia, while also dealing with Michael’s aftermath, managed to load a flat of water onto a pickup truck for a Saturday delivery to Lanark.

Late Friday afternoon, Lynn ventured in Carrabelle where she found a Red Cross vehicle parked at the center of town. She was told two Red Cross trucks filled with supplies had just headed out of Port. St. Joe toward Carrabelle and Lanark Village.

The normally hour-long drive will take nearly three hours since Michael eroded sections of the coastal highway.

Lynn quickly called back the reporter to spread the news and express thanks.