What no one tells you about a hurricane is that it doesn’t end when the winds die down. You only think it does.

Six months after the Category 4 Hurricane Michael roared through the Florida Panhandle, the area is still working to get back up. Every step forward, every business open, every new roof, every plan, every project is a revolution against what so many people believed - that Bay County would crumble after the storm.

What no one tells you, either, is that recovery isn’t just an open business or a new roof. It’s a process. A concentrated effort.

For the six-month anniversary of Hurricane Michael, the News Herald has put together this project to show how far we’ve come in the last six months, and how far we can go.