In the two years since Hurricane Charley struck southwest Florida, more than 1,300 volunteers have donated their time to help families rebuild their homes in Charlotte County alone. Yet despite all those donated hours, volunteers remain a major need in the hardest hit counties.
"We are in desperate need of skilled volunteers," said Ann Schultz, volunteer coordinator for the Interfaith/Interagency Network of Charlotte County (IINCC). "Housing remains the biggest need."
Hurricane Charley was a category 4 storm when it came ashore on August 13, 2004. Schultz said it destroyed 40 percent of the homes in Charlotte County, devastating towns like Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte. Many county residents are retired and living on a fixed income and when Charley leveled their homes, their resources became very strained.
Two years later, stress levels still run high as families try to figure out where they can live once the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) asks for its trailers back. "There's just no affordable housing around here," explained Schultz. "Rents are very high. For those with homes, they're still living in trailers on their property waiting for repairs. We think it will take another two years to complete all the work here."
Since IINCC formed in response to Hurricane Charley in November of 2004, the agency has worked on 738 cases. Repairs to more than 140 homes have been done, another four homes have been completely rebuilt and still another seven have been rebuilt from shells. Schultz credits the volunteers that have poured through thus far for the amount of work done in almost two years. She also says the destruction of Hurricane Charley brought together many communities, agencies and faith groups for the recovery.
"We have been blessed with churches that have opened their doors to let volunteers stay there," said Schultz. "This community has rallied really well. We have a great group of leaders working on the recovery."
Yet with another two years of recovery ahead of them, IINCC's members long for more support — and not just through skilled volunteers. "We're in great need of operations money," Schultz said. "It's hard to get that sort of money. Many donations and grants are earmarked for rebuilding supplies only. We have the money to buy materials but to not actually have the staff here supporting the rebuild. That's where we're hurting."
Hurricane Charley left a trail of destruction as it crossed from southwest to northeast Florida. IINCC estimates the storm destroyed more than 10,000 homes in Florida. Many communities suffered, including the DeSoto County town of Arcadia.
"We estimate that 90 percent of the homes in Arcadia were damaged in some way," said the Rev. Larry Graham-Johnson, rebuilding coordinator for the Peace River Presbytery.
Graham-Johnson said his rebuild efforts are now focused on DeSoto County and Arcadia, where the DeSoto Disaster Recovery Organization is still very active. "We still have more than 100 homes that need to be repaired and at least 30 or 40 that should be replaced."
He worries about the upcoming travel trailer deadline from FEMA, noting that the local recovery agencies may be dealing with at least another 1,000 people looking for housing once the trailers have to be returned. "People come to our door everyday needing shelter," he said.
The high stress levels are visible in Arcadia as well. Graham-Johnson said many people are angry at how long repairs have taken. "Some folks have not yet been able to get their house repaired or replaced. Anytime there's word of a tropical storm the anxiety goes up here. They want to know what they can do. When it rains we get calls, "'What do we do, there's rain coming in.'"
And just like in Charlotte County, skilled volunteers and funding are a major need in the recovery process.
"I think Charley for me was a lesson in knowing the number of migrant farm worker communities," said Lesli Remaly, a Church World Service (CWS) Disaster Response and Recovery Liaison. "There is a diversity of needs within the farm-working population. I learned a lot about the need for language sensitive information, culturally sensitive foods and in general the fear of the government within that population. There is a continued need for partnership with traditionally faith-based and community organizations that assist that population year-round."
Those lessons will be used in future disasters. For now, the responders are buckling down for many more months of Hurricane Charley recovery, hoping that the community can stick it out and emerge stronger than before - or at least somewhat close to what it used to be.
"This area is a big retirement community," said Schultz. "People moved here because of the beaches and relaxation without the tourists. They liked how quiet the towns are. 95 percent of our residents just want our quiet towns back."
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