wfn.org | [ENS] Out of Deep Waters: SE Florida assesses damage after Wilma

["Matthew Davies" <mdavies@episcopalchurch.org>]

Wednesday, November 2, 2005

Out of Deep Waters: SE Florida assesses damage after Wilma

By Mary W. Cox

ENS 110205-1

[ENS, Source: Diocese of Southeast Florida] A week after Hurricane
Wilma swept across Florida, the Diocese of Southeast Florida still lacks
complete information on the status of its 83 congregations.

About 720,000 households and businesses in south Florida were still
without electricity on November 1; and telephone service, both landlines
and cellular, is intermittent at best in many areas.

As gas stations begin to reopen, the long lines of cars are diminishing,
but with many traffic signals down, driving is challenging -- and slow.

By the day after the storm, power had been restored at the diocesan
office, and all staff members have returned to work.

The diocesan website, which was unavailable for a week, is back online,
but cannot be updated until the webmaster has internet access. A temporary
webpage, hosted by the Diocese of Maine, is providing post-Wilma updates
at www.diomaine.org/diosef.html.

Many diocesan meetings and events scheduled for the first two weeks
of November have been postponed, and a new date has not been set the
Diocesan Convention, which was postponed from last weekend due to the
threat of the storm.

The good news is that most clergy who have been contacted report no
catastrophic damage to their buildings, although some churches have
moderately severe damage and several will probably need new roofs. Trees
are down, there are missing shingles and roof tiles, and there is debris
everywhere.

At Trinity Cathedral in Miami a window was blown out of the cathedral
hall and landed, almost intact, in the parking lot of the diocesan office.

Quick action on the part of cathedral sexton Ernest Gipson "saved seven
bishops," says interim Dean Robert Libby. Gipson, whose apartment is
over the cathedral hall, heard the crash and ran downstairs in time to
rescue the bishops' portraits that hung near the blown-out window.

The Rev. Denise Hudspeth, priest in charge of two small congregations in
Pahokee and Belle Glade, two rural towns at the edge of Lake Okeechobee,
reports that although damage to the church buildings was not significant,
she is concerned for her parishioners and their communities.

In Pahokee, fallen trees have made even major roads impassable and houses
and cars have been crushed.

Members of the Haitian community in Belle Glade, many of them farmworkers,
were hit hard, according to Hudspeth. "Many of them fled, and those who
stayed have no food -- nothing," she says.

She is concerned also for the jobs of those who work in the sugarcane
fields, because the storm "flattened" much of the cane.

Hudspeth is working to set up a distribution center for relief supplies
at St. John's, Belle Glade.

There is equally severe damage in the lower Keys. At St. Columba,
Marathon, storm surge soaked the church carpet and destroyed everything
stored on the ground level of the rectory. At St. Francis-in-the-Keys,
Big Pine Key, rector Chris Todd and his family had three family cars
ruined by the rising water.

Parishioners of the two Key West congregations, St. Paul's and St.
Peter's, also lost cars to the flooding. Some had more than five feet
of seawater in their homes and have lost everything. Additional rain
on Halloween night has added to the misery as some hurricane-damaged
roofs collapsed.

But help is on the way. Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD) has sent
a $25,000 emergency grant, and parishes in the neighboring dioceses
of Southwest Florida and Central Florida have offered donations and
volunteer work teams.

In Southeast Florida, ERD's assistance will help parishes in Miami-Dade,
Broward, Palm Beach and Martin counties to supply food, shelter, and other
needs to vulnerable populations in areas heavy impacted by the hurricane.
The storm surge generated in Monroe County damaged or destroyed several
hundred homes and businesses in the Florida Keys.

Canon to the Ordinary Michael Durning of Southwest Florida is coming
to Ft.  Lauderdale the weekend of November 5-6 with a check and a
much-needed generator.

Good Shepherd, Punta Gorda, which suffered devastating damage from
Hurricane Charley last year, is working with Hudspeth to provide supplies
for her churches to distribute in their wounded communities. Another
Southwest Florida parish may also help in this effort.

The Rev. John Liebler, rector of St. Andrew's, Fort Pierce, emailed an
offer of work teams ready to be on the job "with a few days' notice."

He noted a history of mutual help in hurricane season: "St. Andrew's,
Fort Pierce , helped [in Miami ] after Hurricane Andrew.  St. Stephen's,
Coconut Grove, helped us after Frances/Jeanne. We are there for you..."

The diocese is accepting donations for hurricane relief. Checks made
payable to Diocese of Southeast Florida and marked for "hurricane relief"
can be mailed to: Diocese of Southeast Florida, 525 NE 15 St., Miami,
FL 33161.

To help ERD help people affected by Hurricane Wilma, make a donation to
the 2005 Hurricane Fund at http://www.er-d.org/, or call 1-800-334-7626,
ext.  5129. Gifts can be mailed to Episcopal Relief and Development,
2005 Hurricane Fund, PO Box 12043, Newark, NJ 07101.

-- Mary W. Cox is the director of communications for the Diocese of
Southeast Florida.

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