PANAMA City — It was like a bomb had long gone off, according to Rebecca Steverson. That is the only way she said she could truly describe it.
It had been a common Thursday afternoon for David Scott High-quality Jewellery on Dec. 16, planning for the last weekend prior to Christmas. Steverson claimed their Panama City store was full of customers all through the day and the staff was winding down a bit as they started to giftwrap goods.
Then they read what sounded like an explosion.
“I was wrapping a reward in the back and it sounded like an explosion. And so, I didn’t know which way to run because I was in the middle of the building,” stated Steverson, director of operations at David Scott Fine Jewellery. “I didn’t know if the explosion was in the again or the entrance. And then, of course, I ran out and saw the devastation.”
Continue to shopping for Christmas? Check out the ‘Last Moment Market’ in downtown Panama City
Group will come by way of! Panama City’s Empty Stocking Fund passes $200K objective to aid needy
Steverson and the staff members walked out to find out that the destruction had occur from a car that had crashed into their showroom, getting out an total wall and 11 conditions of jewellery. According to police studies, the 28-year-aged driver apparently had a medical issue and swerved off Harrison Avenue, heading straight for the keep.
Following having all people out of the creating, like a lone client who was in the showroom when the car crashed into it, Steverson said while she was thankful no one particular was hurt, all she could feel was shock as they had been likely via and seeking at the injury.
“I think back to the dust and how dirty almost everything was,” Steverson stated. “There was like literally landscaping planters that ended up out by the road and they were within the retailer. We were being buying by way of the glass and the jewellery and then you’d find a potted plant. And that was just surreal a minor little bit.”
No stranger to damage
The business already experienced long gone through so much by the years between Hurricane Michael and the COVID-19 pandemic. Just last 12 months in August, the jewelry store celebrated the reopening of the first Harrison Avenue location after Hurricane Michael seriously destroyed it two many years earlier.
Steverson said she did not have time to assume about it when the crash happened, but later reminisced about how much that constructing experienced gone via.
“I feel after we obtained household that night, once your adrenaline settles, you start off to genuinely sort of replicate a minimal little bit,” Steverson claimed. “But I don’t think in that instant it did. It’s Christmas time. We have a large amount of clients that are depending on us and we’re depending on them to appear in. And it was ‘What are we gonna do now? What’s the subsequent stage?’”
‘It was just all palms on deck’
And as the team associates took it all in when firefighters and law enforcement arrived, they wondered how they had been going to continue during the busiest time of the yr. They did not have a program and they had been still too a great deal in shock.
That is when their pals, household, contractors and community users stepped in to supply a helping hand, Steverson stated. Before the firefighters even remaining, 18 people showed up that day to assist the David Scott Great Jewellery family form a program and rebuild what they had just missing.
“Everybody had a work, regardless of whether it was using out the damaged showcases, choosing up the debris off the ground, likely to get pizza and beer,” Steverson reported. “It was just all hand on deck.”
Within a few hours of those 18 individuals arriving to enable, the wall was back again up and the destruction was all cleaned up. Nothing limited of a Xmas miracle, Steverson mentioned.
Since of their hard do the job, the shop was in a position to reopen that Saturday, within 48 hours of the car or truck crashing into the developing. Steverson stated word distribute swiftly when they posted about reopening.
“We got on Facebook and we said, ‘We’re open up, we’d love for you all to occur out,’” Steverson explained. “And the local community just came out and we experienced a file-breaking day. And so, it was just, it was complete circle. It was just so amazing.”
After heading through what they did with Hurricane Michael, Steverson said she thinks that is a single of the good reasons why quite a few rushed more than to aid them in their time of want. She reported Bay County locals are not ones to depart any one hanging.
“It’s amazing to everybody that you discuss to, like our mates or vendors and people that are exterior the space, New York, California, they’re like ‘Three hrs? People just display up and do that?’” Steverson reported. “Like it’s bizarre to them. Regional men and women, it’s not bizarre, they’re like, of study course they would do that.”
Steverson reported the genuine Christmas miracle inside of all of this is how no one was harm from the crash. She explained the crash has affected her Christmas spirit going forward, grateful that she, her staff, and the customer are safe and sound.
“I imagine the initial matter is that we’re just tremendous glad nobody bought damage mainly because when you see the online video, you might be like we could have all died,” Steverson explained.
As the David Scott Fantastic Jewelry staff pushes towards, Steverson said she many thanks anyone who came out to assist her and the David Scott team, both the first responders and the neighborhood. She mentioned this has created them stronger for daily life occasions in the future and that’s the greatest reward of all.
“I think we’re just in it and we live right here and so we are just so blessed,” Steverson said. “The greatest takeaway is just we’re Alright. And the enterprise is excellent, we love our prospects.”
