beach, just asking him not only how they get their minds around all of this, but how are they going to help this town recover? it s so difficult, mainly because of the close-knit we re so close-knit. i m an owner and have been since 1974 of the ace hardware store down the street. i mean, so many of these people, that s sort of we know them. we know their families. we know how long, you know, their children are now coming here. it s just it s heart breaking, but yet the spirit of our town, based on just the little the quaintness and the family feeling that we have, i think these people will come back. i think they enjoyed the memories. reporter: and the mayor s challenge to provide shelter for those who come back and stayed and that s not an easy task.
survivors, try to find people who may be trapped. they re using cadaver dogs, using what they call live find dogs to try to find survivors. and they re combing through this area. they have had to use specialized equipment, wolf, to extricate at least one person. they have otherwise had to rescue 15 other people who otherwise couldn t get out on their own. this is the kind of stuff they re going through. this is a bathtub that was torn off and jettisoned. and yet something like this survives. a bottle of white wine. over here, i can show you a washing machine that was completely jettisoned from a house here. the entire unit jettisoned along with its hoses and its wall attachment and the wall. imagine how heavy that was to be swept away. and yet you can come over here, this illustrates the fickle, chaotic, unpredictable nature of those storms here, wolf. look what survives. a delicate candle holder and incredibly, even, a light bulb. a light bulb stays intact. a short time ago, i also sp
i asked governor rick scott if they have a shelter here. he said no, they have a shelter in panama city, 20 miles away from here. i said, couldn t you put a shelter here in mexico beach where they so desperately need it, and the governor said it s really just not stable enough right now in areas like this to put a large shelter to house people. so they re trying to get people to evacuate and maybe stay at the city hall, the mayor s office, which is just a little way down the road. brian, thank you. brian todd reporting. and you can see the scope of this disaster in these before and after pictures. take a look. this is panama city, florida. before hurricane michael hit two days ago. and panama city in the wake of this storm. look at that. and this is the main gate of nearby tindall air force base, just before and after. the damage there is being called catastrophic. joining us now, the florida state fire marshal, jimmy petronis, also the state cfo, overseeing urban search and