JACKSONVILLE, Fla -- Now that Tropical Storm Debby has moved through Florida, the city is surveying the aftermath.
Mayor Alvin Brown spoke exclusively with Action News Wednesday morning on the air about how he thinks the city fared.
"We're looking at business, those that were impacted, public buildings, city buildings, to make sure that we get a true assessment on the damage," he told Action News.
The Mayor patrolled around town early Wednesday morning with Jacksonville's Emergency Operations Center Chief Marty Senterfitt.
"Hurricanes bring the high winds but tropical storms bring high water. And the water can be just as devastating as the winds," Senterfitt said.
Action News was there early Wednesday morning as the duo walked along the waterlogged streets in Confederate Park downtown, checking out what Tropical Storm Debby left behind.
"I think it was worse than most people thought, the flooding, the road closures really had a major impact on our city," Mayor Brown said.
Now the worst is over, city leaders say they need the community to let them know how they fared right away.
"If we can get the damage assessments in in a timely manner it may prompt us to declare a state of emergency which then allows us to go to the state and to FEMA and ask for federal aid. But we can only do that if we know about the damage," Chief Senterfitt told Action News.
This is only just the beginning of hurricane season in Jacksonville. And Mayor Alvin Brown says every storm we conquer is a learning experience for the future.
"We prepared we cleared the ditches we got ahead of this storm," said Mayor Brown. "But we do have an infrastructure problem when you have that kind of flooding and we're dealing with it."
Mayor Brown tells Action News after they compile their damage assessments they will talk about what went right and what went wrong Thursday and Friday, to be even more prepared for the next storm. He says you can always learn something from each storm.
And again city officials can't stress enough, if your home or business suffered any kind of damage you need to call 630-CITY Wednesday to report it. City leaders say letting them know Thursday is too late.
