All Poynter staff have been accounted for, and the institute’s headquarters in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida, has largely escaped Hurricane Milton’s destructive winds unscathed, chief operating officer and chief financial officer Jessi Navarro said Thursday.
Though some staff reported damage to their homes, including leaks and downed trees, all are safe, Navarro said. Poynter has more than 50 employees in the Tampa Bay region and southwest Florida, and roughly half were in the area when Milton hit. There was a leak at Poynter’s headquarters, according to Navarro, but the building is otherwise undamaged.
“There’s no cellphone service in the building,” Navarro said. “And there’s no power. But otherwise, the building is totally fine — no windows blown out, no water damage, no water entry.
“… (I’m) incredibly grateful that the storm is past us and didn’t do worse.”
Milton made landfall Wednesday night as a Category 3 hurricane in Siesta Key, Florida, roughly 40 miles south of St. Petersburg. Though Milton’s location meant St. Petersburg did not see the devastating storm surge forecasters had feared, the city still recorded historic rainfall and brutal winds upwards of 100 mph. The death toll stood at nine, as of Thursday morning.
Much of the city does not have power, potable water or sewer service. Navarro said that Poynter cannot reopen until power is restored, at which point the company will be able to test building systems. In the meantime, the institute has 58 employees — including some who evacuated the storm — spread across 13 states and the District of Columbia who are maintaining operations. In addition to offering journalism training and media news reporting, Poynter runs fact-checking outlet PolitiFact, media literacy initiative MediaWise and the International Fact-Checking Network. Some programs may be diverted to other areas or amended, but Poynter has staff available to keep them running, Navarro said.
Poynter also owns the Tampa Bay Times. Early Thursday morning around midnight, a construction crane toppled and landed on a corner of the building that houses the Times. Images posted to social media showed a twisted length of crane boom embedded in the building and extending down onto First Avenue South in downtown St. Petersburg amid a cascade of bricks.
NEW: We’re outside of our office building right now in downtown St. Petersburg, where dozens have gathered to take pictures of the crane that fell last night.
As the sun came up, here’s how it looks @TB_Times: pic.twitter.com/xFCIsyypDW
— Max Chesnes (@MaxChesnes) October 10, 2024
“All I’ve seen are the photos, and it looks really bad,” Mark Katches, editor and vice president of the Tampa Bay Times, wrote in an email to Poynter early Thursday morning. “No one was in it. In fact, we’re never there during storms. We have staff in the field and in remote locations. I don’t know if anyone has been inside to assess the damage. But it doesn’t look like a safe place to be.”
In an article about the damage, Poynter’s Tom Jones wrote that a “core editing team, including Katches, was in Wesley Chapel, Florida — about 40 miles from St. Petersburg, but still within the Times’ coverage area.”
Navarro said she is grateful that no one there was injured. The damage to that building will not affect Poynter’s operations, she added. The Times sold the building for $19 million in 2016 and maintains its headquarters in rented space on the third and fourth floors.
Ultimately, Navarro said she is “thrilled” staff are safe. “It doesn’t mean we won’t have a challenge to come with employees who are faced with incredible challenges with their own homes or property or insurance battles, but safety is No. 1.”
More from Poynter: Crane slams into Tampa Bay Times building during Hurricane Milton
