Although Covington County was largely spared the wrath of Hurricane Michael, many local residents have family members who were affected.

Count Robert and Amy Griggs Nichols among them.

The Nichols’ family was in Lynn Haven, Fla., when the hurricane hit and have been out of cell service since then.

Nichols’ grandmother was living in a nursing home in Lynn Haven and had to be evacuated and transported. Now the family does not know where she is.

“The cell service is so bad we can’t really get in touch with them,” Nichols said. “We have no idea where she is now.”

After talking to their family briefly, they decided to gather basic survival materials to deliver to them today.

“We called them before the storm hit,” Nichols said. “I could hear the devastation in her voice.”

Nichols said that her family has been through hurricanes before, but has never been through one like this.

“I was feeling helpless,” Nichols said. “All I could do was ask what she needed and hopefully we could bring it to them.”

Despite the devastating impact of Hurricane Michael, nobody in Nichols’ family was hurt.

“We got to talk to them a little bit after the storm hit,” Nichols said. “And they said that they were all fine, and there was no damage to the house, just a lot of trees that had fallen down.”

Most people were not prepared for the storm, or thought that it was not going to hit that hard, Nichols said.

“They were not prepared and a lot of people don’t realize how fast these basic necessities run out,” Nichols said. “I mean, two cases of water can go just like that, so we are trying to help bring them all of these necessities for a short term fix.”

Yesterday afternoon, 10 people had already donated for the Nichols’ cause.

“We have had a lot of people donating,” Nichols said. “Several have dropped off items at our house and at the business that we posted.”

Nichols said that just getting to Florida with the items will help their family out tremendously.

“We are all so use to having all of these basic necessities,” Nichols said. “So just doing without electricity is a shocker for everyone.”