Florida Fights Back
“We’ll get through this,” said Vice Mayor Richard Johnson of Sanibel Florida. “And we’ll come out on the other side better than we were going in.”
“Our entire staff is safe and although the restaurant sustained incredible damage, the structure of the building is intact,” the owner of Nervous Nellie’s, a seafood restaurant on Fort Myer’s beach, said in a statement. “We are hoping to work our way through this and be back stronger than ever.”
These statements best sum up the strength and determination Floridians have shown. For sure, untold numbers of folks have lost their homes and businesses, and these people feel emotionally crushed. But the attitude of the preponderance of Floridians is one of hope and a great desire to begin the rebuilding effort, and to make things better than they were before we were slammed by hurricane Ian.
Search and rescue efforts are in full swing. For example, 700 individuals were rescued in Charlotte and Lee counties. The coast guard contributed 800 team members and have been working around the clock to aid in rescue efforts. They have made dozens of rescues overnight.
There are currently 42,000 linemen responding to more than 2.5 million reported power outages. More than 200,000 accounts have already had their power restored in southwest Florida.
Donations have poured into the Florida Disaster Fund to the tune of over $10,000,000 in just 24 hours.
Other states are also helping. For example, the Missouri Task Force 1 Disaster Situational Assessment and Reconnaissance Team has deployed to Florida to assist in search and rescue and incident assessment. A Florida Unmanned Aircraft System Team deployed to central Florida to support state task forces in incident assessment.
Both the national guard and the coast guard are landing helicopters on barrier islands to perform search and rescue. Search and rescue teams have rallied at the Fort Myers Sports Complex and have been running operations 24/7.
Florida National Guard members are conducting incident awareness and assessment missions in Sarasota, Desoto, Charlotte, and Lee counties. These units will be engaged in search and rescue and route clearance. Five thousand Florida guardsmen have been activated. Additionally, 2,000 guardsmen from other states have arrive to aid in the efforts.
The Florida Division of Emergency and Management (FDEM) has erected 200 shelters, 50 of which are special needs shelters. (Special needs shelters, according to the FDEM website, are designed for people who require sheltering assistance due to physical, mental, cognitive impairment or sensory disabilities.) Support staff for the shelters have arrived.
FDEM is also deploying the following resources:
- More than 400 bottles of oxygen for Charlotte County.
- 255 ambulances.
- 200 trucks of food, water, and ice.
- 200 large generators.
- 500 tarps.
- 375 kits for parents of infants and toddlers with critical supplies that will last ten days.
- Triage units.
- Five truckloads of blankets and five truckloads of cots to support displaced residents.
After reports of issues, Florida is shipping 1.2 million gallons of potable water to hospitals in Lee County.
Our thoughts are prayers go out to all the families effected by this disaster.