Disaster Date:09/27/2022
Arcadia, 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 Arcadia, FLWhat MDS Is Doing
MDS volunteers will be focused on repair and rebuilding work.
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
The work is winding down here in Arcadia. We had no weekly volunteers. Still, it was a busy week for the six long-termers, who are closing the site here and preparing to move the project to Venice, Florida. Several of the guys finished up the...
A full van of ten young Amish ladies, a chaperone couple and driver couple, all from Indiana, arrived Sunday evening in Arcadia, ready to apply their skills where needed. Some of the crew installed trim, did texture mudding and painting on the...
Eight young ladies from Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, along with their driver, arrived early Sunday evening. Two college-age young fellows from New York flew to Sarasota and then rented a U-Haul van to drive to Arcadia. Because they were only 19 years...