Residents on Lansing Drive are saying that both Pensacola Fire and Pensacola Energy were in their neighborhood within an hour after the tornado passed on Tuesday night.
“Trees were down, the residents has lost power,” Councilwoman Sherri Myers told Inweekly this morning. “People positioned their cars for fire truck to see the road. Pensacola Energy had someone out asking people if they had gas service.”
However, the Pensacola Police Department didn’t appear to be aware when they released information that the city had no significant damage. Mayor Ashton Hayward didn’t know the facts when he went on radio, and City Administrator Eric Olson had no idea of any damage in the northeast corner of the city when Myers called him.
Fortunately, this was not a major storm event, but the city needs to rework its emergency operations procedures and communications.