20 Years Ago - Remembering Hurricane Elena

September, 1985, 20 years ago.
From the Levy County Clerk`s Archives and History Dept.

Cedar Key residents returned after a two-day seige by Hurricane Elena to find a battered island that left the city`s waterfront in shambles but injured no one.

Five feet of water was measured at the intersection where the Cedar Key Historical Society Museum is located. Florida Dept. of Transportation worked quickly to repair the largest road washout at the #3 bridge, hauling tons of sand to the location in attempt to make the road passable.

Civil Defense officials headquatered in the basement of the Levy County Courthouse in Bronson used school gymnasiums at Chiefland, Bronson and Williston to house 1,200 homeless Levy Countians.

The path of Elena was tracked at the Civil Defense office on maps and a chart listing latitude and longitude coordinates. Updates on the storm`s position came several hours apart through a radio device, and the information was used to make decisions on what to do next.

Cedar Key pulled out of FEMA`s national flood insurance program last year, and none of the waterfront businesses were insurec against storm damage.

(This article was taken from the Chiefland Citizen newspaper as part of the Levy County Clerk`s Archive and History Dept.)

From the Archives and History Center
Levy County Clerk`s Office
Danny J. Shipp, Clerk of Court