By COLlive reporter
Chabad of Tallahassee is raising funds for relief efforts after sustaining property damage and financial loss from tornadoes that roared through the city on Friday morning leaving a large swath of damage – downed trees, tangled power lines, and buildings with their roofs sheered off.
The violent storms crashed into the city amid the morning rush to school by students. Schools across the city were subsequently closed and a woman was tragically killed when a tree crashed into her home.
Facing the kind of damage and numbers that accompany hurricanes, the City of Tallahassee expects it will take “some time” to get an estimated 80,000 people reconnected to the power grid.
Crews continue working non-stop on repairing the damage, which includes 333 broken poles (expected to grow to 500) and 91 damaged transformers as of now.
Circuits in the path of the tornadoes are being fully rebuilt. Additional mutual aid crews arrived yesterday, adding an additional 100 crew members. Approximately 300 mutual aid personnel are working alongside City crews as of this morning, and additional crews are arriving today.
Rabbi Shneur Oirechman, who leads Chabad of The Panhandle in Tallahassee with his wife Chanie, has just returned from Israel where he was sitting Shiva for his mother, Mrs. Ilana Oirechman OBM. He had made a stop at the Rebbe’s Ohel at the exact time of the storm, he told COLlive.
“These are the worst tornados that Tallahassee has ever seen,” Rabbi Oirechman said. “There was major damage near our Chabad Center and home, including a tree which fell right near our home, miraculously narrowly missing it,” he said.
“It was a huge miracle, we had people right near our home at the time, and a student was spared by just a few inches,” Rabbi Oirechman said.
The whole area, including the Chabad Center, is still without power, and Rabbi Oirechman relates that they were not able to obtain a generator before Shabbos, leaving them with thousands of dollars of loss of perishable food items alone.
The Center provided food and emergency relief for many, even with the damage they sustained.
Chabad of Tallahassee is also raising funds to repair the heavy property damage they sustained, as well as cleanup.
To donate to Chabad of Tallahassee as they deal with this emergency, click here.
