On Aug. 31, two reporters from Gannett’s USA Today Network were in the fishing town of Suwanee, Florida, covering the aftermath of Hurricane Idalia, when they spotted smoke.
Douglas Soule, a First Amendment reporter, and Alicia Devine, a Tallahassee Democrat photographer (and Florida’s 2021 photojournalist of the year), traced the smoke to a house, where it was pouring out thick from the roof.
“We need buckets,” someone yelled.
Soule and Devine grabbed a trash can and joined a crew of people pulling water out of the Suwannee River in an attempt to save the house.
