All Poynter employees have been accounted for, and the institute’s headquarters in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida, has largely escaped Hurricane Milton’s harmful winds unscathed, chief working officer and chief monetary officer Jessi Navarro stated Thursday.
Although some employees reported harm to their houses, together with leaks and downed timber, all are secure, Navarro stated. Poynter has greater than 50 workers within the Tampa Bay area and southwest Florida, and roughly half had been within the space when Milton hit. There was a leak at Poynter’s headquarters, in line with Navarro, however the constructing is in any other case undamaged.
“There’s no cellphone service within the constructing,” Navarro stated. “And there’s no energy. However in any other case, the constructing is completely effective — no home windows blown out, no water harm, no water entry.
“… (I’m) extremely grateful that the storm is previous us and didn’t do worse.”
Milton made landfall Wednesday night time as a Class 3 hurricane in Siesta Key, Florida, roughly 40 miles south of St. Petersburg. Although Milton’s location meant St. Petersburg didn’t see the devastating storm surge forecasters had feared, the town nonetheless recorded historic rainfall and brutal winds upwards of 100 mph. The loss of life toll stood at 9, as of Thursday morning.
A lot of the town doesn’t have energy, potable water or sewer service. Navarro stated that Poynter can not reopen till energy is restored, at which level the corporate will have the ability to check constructing techniques. Within the meantime, the institute has 58 workers — together with some who evacuated the storm — unfold throughout 13 states and the District of Columbia who’re sustaining operations. Along with providing journalism coaching and media information reporting, Poynter runs fact-checking outlet PolitiFact, media literacy initiative MediaWise and the Worldwide Reality-Checking Community. Some packages could also be diverted to different areas or amended, however Poynter has employees accessible to maintain them operating, Navarro stated.
Poynter additionally owns the Tampa Bay Instances. Early Thursday morning round midnight, a building crane toppled and landed on a nook of the constructing that homes the Instances. Photographs posted to social media confirmed a twisted size of crane growth embedded within the constructing and lengthening down onto First Avenue South in downtown St. Petersburg amid a cascade of bricks.
NEW: We’re outdoors of our workplace constructing proper now in downtown St. Petersburg, the place dozens have gathered to take footage of the crane that fell final night time.
Because the solar got here up, right here’s the way it seems to be @TB_Times: pic.twitter.com/xFCIsyypDW
— Max Chesnes (@MaxChesnes) October 10, 2024
“All I’ve seen are the pictures, and it seems to be actually dangerous,” Mark Katches, editor and vice chairman of the Tampa Bay Instances, wrote in an electronic mail to Poynter early Thursday morning. “Nobody was in it. The truth is, we’re by no means there throughout storms. We now have employees within the area and in distant places. I don’t know if anybody has been inside to evaluate the harm. But it surely doesn’t appear to be a secure place to be.”
In an article about the damage, Poynter’s Tom Jones wrote {that a} “core modifying staff, together with Katches, was in Wesley Chapel, Florida — about 40 miles from St. Petersburg, however nonetheless throughout the Instances’ protection space.”
Navarro stated she is grateful that nobody there was injured. The harm to that constructing is not going to have an effect on Poynter’s operations, she added. The Instances offered the constructing for $19 million in 2016 and maintains its headquarters in rented area on the third and fourth flooring.
In the end, Navarro stated she is “thrilled” employees are secure. “It doesn’t imply we gained’t have a problem to come back with workers who’re confronted with unimaginable challenges with their very own houses or property or insurance coverage battles, however security is No. 1.”
