When the
160-mile-an-hour winds died down, the February 2 tornado left a path
of destruction that many will not forget any time soon. In the wake
of the tornado was an
estimated $60 million in property damage in the greater DeLand and
New Smyrna Beach areas. As many as 40 local small businesses
sustained an estimated $19.5 million in property damage.
In response to
this devastation, the City of DeLand and the county’s economic
development team initiated several emergency actions to identify the
damage and the number of businesses impacted. By midday after the
tornado, it was apparent numerous businesses in the DeLand area had
taken a big hit.
Among the
hardest hit businesses were those in and near Woodland Plaza on U.S.
17-92 (S. Woodland Boulevard) just south of DeLand’s downtown.
DeLand’s newest major employer, Frontier Communication Solutions,
recently moved into its Woodland Plaza facility. Among the nation’s
largest communications providers, Frontier is one of the great
economic development success stories for DeLand in 2006.
In June,
Frontier chose DeLand as its divisional headquarters for its
nationwide network of customer service centers. Training of the
company’s first of an anticipated 487 employees began in late July
and local officials were concerned about the impact the tornado
would have on the company’s new location.
Efforts were
made to coordinate damage assessments, provide access for repair
teams and communicate with the company’s management locally and
nationally. Progress Energy and city personnel had power restored
within 36 hours. Although losing the weekend, Frontier and its whole
team were in full operation by Monday.
Not all
businesses fared as well. An estimated 300 local workers were
impacted by the storm either by temporary or longterm loss of
employment. The county’s Workforce Development Board/Center for
Business Excellence in cooperation with the state deployed a mobile
One Stop employment unit within 36 hours of the tornado to meet the
needs of area businesses and employees.
Once damage
assessments were established, the county Department of Economic
Development, working closely with the City of DeLand and State Rep.
Joyce Cusack, contacted the Governor’s Office to activate the
state’s Emergency Bridge Loan program to provide immediate emergency
loans to businesses that sustained damage or incurred business loss.
The move
generated a commitment from Gov. Charlie Crist for $1 million in
interest free loans that could be used to bridge the gap while local
businesses waited for responses and processing of insurance claims
and applications for longterm SBA Disaster Relief Loans from the
federal government. The Emergency Bridge Loans are administered by
the county Department of Economic
Development.
“Seven area
banks including Main Street Community Bank, Wachovia, Prosperity
Bank, Bank of America, Riverside Bank, SunTrust Bank and Harbor
Federal Bank were quick to volunteer in forming a loan committee
that served as the backbone
of the county’s ability to disperse $25,000 emergency loans to many
of the small businesses impacted by the devastation of February 2,”
said Rick Michael, County Economic Development Director. ■
