We watched as she developed in the Gulf about a week ago, and even a week later, some parts of the Panhandle are still feeling the effects of Tropical Storm Debby. Not all the impact is negative; for one industry in Jackson County, there's a light at the end of the cave.@
"When the hydraulic pressure of the water, being too high from the rain, it back-flows into the cave. You get muddy water. There's zero visibility and its too dangerous," says Edd Sorenson, the owner of Cave Adventures in Jackson County.
These blown-out caves across several parts of the state blew several peoples travel plans.
"We had planned on stopping here at Mill pond and traveling on to Gainesville High Springs area, and of course, the storm came through and that kind of blew that out," says Steve Coyle, a cave diver from Texas.
"All the caves we had planned to dive are not divable right now," says Shirley Kasser, diver from Orlando. "A lot of the town that we would have been visiting and eating in are under water."
The caves in Jackson County, on the other hand, weathered the storm just fine, attracting more business than usual.
"A lot of tourism dollars will flow in. There's going to be people staying in the hotel rooms. There's going to be people spending money in the restaurants, convenience stores, and gas stations," says Sorenson.
Instead of 2 days in Jackson County, Shirley Kasser has extended her stay to a week.
"We went from maybe spending 150 dollars for a place to stay to pushing 400 dollars for a place to stay," says Kasser. "We will be eating more meals here. We will hit the Caverns, that movies theater, the area parks and thing like that."
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