Down in the nick of time – Bakery Building toppled hours before Idalia winds and rain came

Kevin Kelley couldn’t have come at a better time. When he was hired to take over the demolition effort at the old Bakery Building on E. Railroad Avenue, he didn’t waste a moment. Kelley and his crew started on Monday, Aug. 28. He told everyone he hoped to have the second floor of the collapsed building taken down by lunch time … but in fact it was before 11 a.m. when it was down below the roof line of The Barnichol. By the end of the day, it was just about down altogether. Getting the building down became an urgent priority when the feeder bands of Hurricane Idalia were expected to start hitting the island on Tuesday afternoon. Had the building been left the way it was, who knows what would have happened?