A Miami-Dade Fire Rescue (MDFR) task force sent to assist in search and rescue efforts in areas hit the hardest by Hurricane Ian, which barreled into Florida as a Category 4 storm exactly one week ago, is still on the ground.
They’ve joined countless others who responded to a call to render aid, including the Florida Army National Guard and task forces from Louisiana, Maryland and Massachusetts.
(Lee County Sheriff’s Office/Twitter)
The destruction of Fort Myers Beach after Hurricane Ian.
MDFR’s nearly 100-member team has been helping evacuate people from the now inhabitable Sanibel, Captiva and Pine islands in Lee County via helicopter and other rescue measures. The team saw its fair share of elderly individuals who needed assistance to escape to safer ground.
MDFR disclosed that its task force had helped 42 people and several pets evacuate the barrier islands by the second day of its search and rescue effort, which was last Friday.
Ahead of President Joe Biden’s Wednesday visit to Florida, MDFR deployed four inspectors to impacted areas to assist with assessments of damaged fire stations and government buildings, in addition to sending an engine strike team to Cape Coral and Collier County to mitigate 911 calls
“After Hurricane Andrew, the abundance of help and aid given to us by emergency response agencies from across Florida helped our community get back on its feet,” said Raied Jadallah, MDFR fire chief in a statement. “The strike teams are a part of a coordinated effort that will help local agencies in the recovery after a storm of this magnitude."
(White House via Twitter)
President Biden holding a press conference at FEMA headquarters.
Over the last 72 hours, 7,000 people in Florida were seeking food and water while more than 3,000 people had been displaced and forced into shelters, according to teams on the ground.
As a result of the hurricane’s impact, the Florida Department of Education announced that K-12 school districts in Charlotte, DeSoto, Hardee, Lee and Sarasota counties will remain closed indefinitely. Collier and Volusia county schools will reopen this week.
Officials say 90% of Fort Myers Beach, a town in Lee County that took a direct hit from Ian, has been decimated.
Of Florida’s more than 100 reported hurricane-related deaths, at least 54 were from Lee County, according to the county’s sheriff’s office. Twenty-four deaths were from Charlotte County as of Monday. More than 4,000 people had been rescued from Ian’s destruction but thousands still remain unaccounted for, according to CBS News.
Gov. Ron DeSantis said rescue crews went door to door to more than 3,000 homes last week.
(Miami-Dade Fire Rescue via Twitter)
Members of Miami-Dade Fire Rescue deploy as part of Florida Urban Search & Rescue Task Force 2
“You had people immediately descend onto the scene, particularly in southwest Florida,” DeSantis told the media on Friday. “There’s flight rescue, making sure people are OK … There’s been really a Herculean effort.”
“We’re just beginning to see the scale of that destruction,” said Biden on Friday during remarks on Hurricane Ian. “It’s going to take months, years to rebuild.”
Relief pouring in
Damages from Hurricane Ian could amount to $40 billion in insured losses. Biden agreed to DeSantis’ request to increase the number of counties to receive federal disaster relief funding to 14, adding four more counties from central Florida to the list.
(Miami-Dade Fire Rescue via Twitter)
The state’s disaster relief fund received raised more than $21 million within 48 hours following Ian’s impact. The first round of funding, amounting to $1 million, has already been disbursed to organizations such as the American Red Cross, Catholic Charities, Feeding Florida and The Salvation Army, which currently lead recovery efforts in Florida.
Other organizations like GlobalGiving – a charity that connects donors with grassroots projects – have also raised funds to help hurricane victims both in and outside of Florida, as Ian has impacted Georgia, the Carolinas and Virginia.
Their hurricane relief funding stood at $78,000 at this writing.
“When a disaster strikes, GlobalGiving focuses on partnering with organizations that are providing urgent relief and supporting the most underserved, under-resourced and marginalized communities,” said Sandrina da Cruz, director of disaster and humanitarian response at GlobalGiving, when asked how funding distribution is determined.
(Orlando FD via Twitter)
Flooding in the Orlando area after Hurricane Ian passed through.
“We also prioritize nonprofits working with children, elderly and those with disabilities,” she continued. “To whatever extent possible, over the course of recovery, we also try to address gaps left by other funders, both thematic and geographic."
Kristin Wright, the organization’s public relations specialist, disclosed that around 70%-80% of disaster funding normally raised during a time of crisis aims to focus on immediate relief and is typically distributed within the first two months.
“We want to encourage people to pace their giving and to give over the long haul,” she advised to those looking to donate. “Consider giving a smaller amount immediately and then again after some time has passed or even set up monthly recurring donations.”
Black communities wait for help
Though funding and donations are pouring into hardest-hit areas from across the country, many have complained that those efforts are not being felt in some of Florida’s Black communities.
Collier County NAACP president Vincent Keeys told Naples News he was outraged that no real plan existed to help residents in his county recover after the storm.
(AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
APTOPIX Tropical Weather Florida
Boats lie scattered amidst mobile homes after the passage of Hurricane Ian, on San Carlos Island, in Fort Myers Beach.
“There are people out here who need help and they need an answer,” said Keeys, urging a city council to assist residents in River Park, a historically Black and low-income community in St. Lucie County.
Residents in Dunbar, a majority-Black neighborhood in Fort Myers, told reporters over the weekend that their community had been overshadowed by seaside enclaves and that they had received little to no assistance.
Black households typically receive less aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) according to NBC, but organizations on the ground working with the agency say they are seeing FEMA take on a more equitable approach to providing relief.
Marcus Coleman, director of the Department of Homeland Security Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, told The Miami Times that FEMA has committed to working with its partners to ensure that no community is left behind.
“We are working across the boards and with all sectors to meet those needs,” he said following a conference call FEMA held with disaster relief organizations to provide updates on responses to Ian.
(AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
CORRECTION APTOPIX Tropical Weather Florida
Damaged homes and debris are shown in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian in Fort Myers Beach, FL.
“Many of the partners on the call, they’re typically working with those impacted by the everyday emergencies,” he continued. “It’s really important for us as a federal agency to keep an open line of communication with our partners.”
Brad Kieserman, vice president for disaster operations and logistics at the American Red Cross, informed The Miami Times Tuesday afternoon that the NAACP had reached out to him to express concern about Black communities not receiving food or water.
“We hadn’t adequately met those needs,” he admitted, explaining how crucial it is for charity organizations to be connected to groups in the communities they serve. “[But] with their help, we were able to get to a variety of churches and other locations in southwestFlorida. The reason we were able to do that is because we have partnerships that preexist the storm … We’re gonna make sure that these communities moving forward that have been identified by the NAACP receive aid every single day.”
Coleman, who says FEMA was on the ground with Black-led organizations like the Urban League and NAACP before Ian made landfall, encouraged people to call 800.621.3362 or visit DisasterAssistance.gov for help.
Power slowly being restored
(Miami-Dade Fire Rescue via Twitter)
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue ready to join the statewide task force.
The damage Ian left behind has made it increasingly difficult for power to be restored in Florida’s most impacted neighborhoods.
At a press conference Tuesday, Eric Silagy, Florida Power & Light’s chief executive officer, explained how some areas have intentionally been left with no power.
“Fort Myers Beach has no electricity to it intentionally because there are still search and rescue crews that are there and I expect that will continue for at least another week,” said Silagy. “Most buildings there will not be able to accept electricity. They’re either gone or structurally damaged to the point where it would be unsafe to put electricity to them. I don’t want to start a fire.”
More than 15,000 FPL customers reside in Fort Myers Beach.
As of Tuesday, power had been restored to 21 counties in Florida in an estimated 1.9 million-plus households. Silagy confirmed that 95% of customers and businesses should have their power back by the end of Friday, thanks to a workforce of more than 21,000 individuals.
“We have seen particularly close to ground zero of areas [with] widespread destruction,” added Silagy, describing streets with standing and flood waters, uprooted homes, overturned cars and downed power lines. “It is not just about repair, it’s about rebuilding and when you have to rebuild something, it just takes longer.
“In some cases, you have to get a crane to remove some of the large trees that fell over … they’re simply too large for a crew with chainsaws to section up and you can’t actually repair or rebuild the ground lines or the overhead lines if the trees are down on top of them, so there’s challenges like that … that debris all has to be cleared.”