'We're finally here': Rebuilt county water treatment plant reopens from Hurricane Michael's damage

Samantha Neely, The News Herald
·4 min read

PANAMA CITY — It was almost four years ago when the Bay County Water Treatment Plant operational staff was quickly shifted to a safer building during Hurricane Michael's destruction.

With the roof already torn off just hours into the Category 5 storm, workers had no idea what more was to come at the Transmitter Road facility.

"(The plant) took a significant hit, if you will. The roof, of course, was removed," Utility Services Director Bobby Gibbs said. "Windows were knocked out. The doors were knocked off their hinges, so the building took a significant hit from Hurricane Michael."

Since 2018, crews have been working out of construction trailers, awaiting their return to the plant. Their long wait ends Friday.

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Plant restored and expanded

Workers earlier this week have completed a three-and-a-half-year restoration and expansion project of the facility.

The staff's building was more than doubled from 1,800 square feet to about 4,000 square feet. On top of fixing the destruction, the renovations included additional bathrooms and showers, an additional kitchen, installing a washer and dryer, and building a bunk area.

Utility Services Director Bobby Gibbs looks over the renovated entry at the wastewater treatment facility on Transmitter Road, complete with historic features decorating the walls.
Utility Services Director Bobby Gibbs looks over the renovated entry at the wastewater treatment facility on Transmitter Road, complete with historic features decorating the walls.

Gibbs said the changes were made with their Hurricane Michael experience in mind, wanting to provide a safe and comfortable place for workers to stay during natural disasters.

"When we renovated the building, that was one of the things we thought about, 'Hey, let's make sure that these guys have the facilities if they are here for extended periods of time,'" Gibbs said. "So now they have a place that they can, because I had a hard time with these guys not wanting to take a break or sleep, so there was really no place to rest so they would just stay awake for 48 hours at a time."

Gibbs said improving infrastructure was another key element of the renovations, with the original structure from the 1960s.

"We put in hurricane-rated windows, doors. We put on a new roofing system," Gibbs said. "When they had the roof off, they actually poured concrete to stiffen these walls or harden them ... so that it would handle a storm better than it did for sure."

The wastewater treatment plant's renovated operations center has large monitors and plenty of room for controllers.
The wastewater treatment plant's renovated operations center has large monitors and plenty of room for controllers.

Setbacks and delays

The project has been a long time in the making, first hitting the drawing board in 2019 with construction starting more than a year ago. Gibbs said they experienced several delays.

"We had the COVID virus hit and that affected everything. Then, of course, you have the supply chain issues that once we did start the construction, we had issues with delays on finding material, finding workers, or at least the contractors did, so it has just taken a lot longer than we had hoped," Gibbs said.

But his operational crews have been patient, Gibbs said. The day after Michael, crews worked out of the administration building until they moved into the construction trailers.

"It was tough and, of course, it led to some concerns when we had COVID," Gibbs said. "You got all these guys in a short, small confined space. And so, we had that, we had some challenges, so they're excited to be able to have some actual space to move around in and have their own designated areas."

They officially move back Friday, just in time for hurricane season.

"Safety is something that has always been a concern of ours ... it's critical that our staff is safe," Gibbs said. "And what we've had to do over the past four years is we monitor storms daily. And when we have a storm coming in, we had to relocate these operators that are in this trailer to the administration building because ... it's definitely safer than a construction trailer."

Gibbs said everyone is excited to be back home after almost four years. Walking back into the plant as renovations were finishing up, he said he felt happy to see it come together.

"It's kind of the same question when I walked out of the building, the first thing I saw after Hurricane Michael when I saw the damage, it was, 'Now what,'" Gibbs said. "And when I see it now, it's like finally, 'We're finally here, so it's exciting.'"

This article originally appeared on The News Herald: Hurricane Michael: Bay County Water Treatment Plant completes 3-year renovation