‘No floor, no walls, no ceiling’: Hurricane Irma recovery still underway for many in Jacksonville
While they were gone, storm surge and high tide combined to cause record flooding across the city, leaving many homes and businesses uninhabitable because of water damage. When Briggs returned two days later, she found that her
"Water came up 4 feet in the house," she said.
A year later, Briggs, 71, and her young-adult daughter are living with relatives in
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"It's there. You can look in the windows, but there's nothing in there," she said. "No floor, no walls, no ceiling."
The Briggses are among thousands of
Coordinating the various assistance available for them is the
Immediately after Hurricane Irma, the
"At the time, that was a good thing," said
That move now forces the group to play catch up, tracking down people with unmet needs, determining the extent of those needs and matching them with resources.
Members know that
They know an outside research group that did a damage assessment earlier this year made contact with about 221 people with
They know an average of 12 people a week seek help even now -- mostly the elderly, disabled or poor families with children -- but other people may be unaware help is available
"It's huge, but hard to quantify," said Boylan. "These are working people, retired people, living paycheck to paycheck."
The group meets every other week to go over its progress, such as the numbers of people case managers are assisting, the number of home repair projects completed, and update each other on funding opportunities. One of the more unusual sources is the
The grant, which stemmed from
"The
SLIDESHOWS: Hurricane Irma's aftermath
>> Downtown, San Marco
>> Riverside, Avondale
>>
Meanwhile, Builders Care has been on the ground helping Irma victims since October. The faith-based nonprofit construction contractor combines bought and donated material with volunteer and professional labor to provide free and low-cost construction for the needy.
"We're finally turning the page from immediate needs" to long term recovery, said
Builders Care, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of
Lad and
Flooding came "three-fourths of the way up walls,"
Like the Briggses, many of those families are still "camping out" with relatives a year after the storm, she said. "It has been very slow going."
Lad Daniels said he thought he had traversed all of
"They have very little of anything," he said. "They've been without a home for about a year and now we're going into another hurricane season. ... The needs of this part of the city have not been addressed."
The volunteer groups -- many from churches in
"I didn't realize how difficult it is and how long it would take," he said.
There are still people in
On the anniversary of Irma, he said he wants the public to realize that thousands of people have not yet been able to put their lives together. He wants them to help the recovery effort.
So does Daniels.
Immediately after a hurricane, he said, "Everybody gets excited, all ready to jump in and do things. As time passes ... the enthusiasm goes away. They feel everything is resolved."
But it's not.
"Most people in the community don't realize how many people are still suffering ... as if it was day one, a year later," said
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