Disaster Date:09/27/2022
Southwest FL
Hurricanes
What Happened
Hurricane Ian struck Florida on September 27, 2022, as a Category 4 hurricane. With the wind speed of just short of a Category 5 storm, Hurricane Ian was the fifth most powerful storm to ever hit the country. This hurricane was the deadliest hurricane to strike the state of Florida since the 1935 Labor Day hurricane. Hurricane Ian caused catastrophic damage. Damage was mostly from flooding from rain and storm surge. Of course, a lot of damage was caused by the intense wind. Millions were left without power.
Volunteer in Southwest FLWhat MDS Is Doing
MDS volunteers will be primarily focused on cleanup work from Hurricane Ian.
Location
Arcadia is located within DeSoto County in southwest Florida. The town has a population of about 7,700 people. The climate is generally hot and humid in the summer and warm, drier in the winter. In 2004, Arcadia was heavily damaged by Hurricane Charley in which MDS also responded to the same area. Arcadia sits in the middle of Florida cowboy country, and it is a place where the Old West meets the Old South. It is also known for its peaceful orange groves, streams built for canoeing and woods made for camping.
Stories from the Field
Weekly Reports
This week was transition week as we said goodbye to Ray & Martha Zimmerman and Mim Heisey took full leadership as Project Director. Ray Heisey continued as Construction Supervisor, Roger Friesen as crew leader and Anne Friesen as Office...
The Southwest Florida site welcomed 13 volunteers to Arcadia this week; grandparents from Carthage, NY, brought 5 of their teenaged grandchildren to serve with them, and a group of 6 young men joined us from Ephrata, PA. What good workers they all...
The 10 energetic young fellows from the Shippensburg, Pa area worked on tearing off and putting on roofs. One day the two groups had a contest to see which group was the fastest tearing off. The Glenn C. group of 8 from around Mifflintown, PA and...