(Horseshoe Beach) Two people have been accused of ransacking a hurricane-damaged home Idalia in Big Bend, Florida. With law enforcement fatigued, residents of this remote wooded area along the Gulf Coast fear that other burglars may be tempted to break into other residences.
Some residents of Horseshoe Beach, Florida, one of the hardest hit communities afterwardIdalia It made landfall on Wednesday as a Category 3 hurricane, prompting law enforcement to set up checkpoints where people must show identification to enter the city.
While marina worker Kerry Ford commended local law enforcement’s response to the hurricane, he wished more efforts had been made to turn away people who did not belong to Horseshoe Beach.
“It is possible to enter the horseshoe directly without proof that you are a resident,” he said. This is a particular problem without electricity. Someone has to be here to turn away everyone but the residents. »
Ford was responding to the arrest of a man and woman from Palmetto, a town about 200 miles south of the place. Idalia landed. An officer of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission heard noises coming from outside a home in Horseshoe Beach and then found the couple loading items from the waterfront home into a rented truck.
One of the suspects told officers that the owner had given him permission to take items from the house. The vehicle’s owners joined authorities and said they had done no such thing, according to a statement from the Dixie County Sheriff’s Office.
Each suspect was charged with burglary of an unoccupied emergency dwelling, theft and trespassing, and bail was set at $1 million each.
Tammy Bryan, who works at the First Free Will Baptist Church in Horseshoe Beach, believes the thieves could help in another way.
“If a thief stops to help someone, or load up some trash, and then take the rest away…” I let it pass. That’s how it should be. We need reinforcements here. »
Hurricane Idalia made landfall Wednesday morning near Keaton Beach with winds of 200 kilometers per hour and a storm surge of 6 feet (1.8 metres). The storm then moved across largely rural areas of inland Florida and southern Georgia before heading out to sea in the Carolinas. The storm wreaked havoc on a portion of old Florida that escaped massive coastal development.
On Saturday, more than 61,000 Florida residents and 8,700 Georgia residents lost power due to Hurricane Idalia. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden were scheduled to travel to Florida on Saturday to tour the hurricane-affected area.
