Hurricane Michael caused widespread damage in Panama City, Fla., when it made landfall in the Florida Panhandle on Oct. Michael also devastated portions of southern Georgia as it moved inland. The hurricane caused widespread destruction in Florida’s Bay, Calhoun, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf, Liberty and Jackson Counties. Michael had winds of 155 mph when it made landfall in Mexico Beach, which is roughly 20 miles southeast of Panama City, on Oct. “We want to be able to get things back up to the way they were, but it will take time.” Drag queen, partner, friends evacuated to Ala. “We want to get the center up as fast as we can,” said Crim. She also said one of the LGBTQ Center of Bay County’s leaders held a youth group meeting at their home on Monday. “Our center really took a hit,” she said.Ĭrim told the Blade she and her colleagues have “salvaged everything that we could” from the church.

Pictures that Crim sent to the Blade also show several large trees fell into the side of the church during the hurricane. Michael destroyed a portion of the church’s roof. The LGBTQ Center of Bay County, which board secretary Cherie Crim described to the Washington Blade on Monday during a telephone interview as Bay County’s “first safe space” for LGBT youth, rented a room at an Episcopal church in Panama City. Members of the Florida Panhandle’s LGBT community are trying to pick up the pieces from Hurricane Michael that devastated the region earlier this month.