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Movies: Spider-Man 2 Hits Theaters
August 17, 2004
On Friday, August 13, 2004, "A/G
News" reported that Convoy of Hope already had
two trucks with relief supplies in route to Florida
as Hurricane Charley, expected to be a Category 2
or possibly Category 3 hurricane, closed in on the
peninsula. However, Charley struck Florida with unexpected
force, coming ashore as a Category 4 hurricane with
winds reaching 145 miles per hour.
The destruction was massive; the numbers
are staggering. As of today, there are reports of
21 dead, hundreds missing, at least 500,000 structures
damaged or destroyed and an estimated $11 billion
in damages. Twenty-five counties have been declared
disaster areas.
The city of Punta Gorda, located about
30 miles northeast of Fort Myers on the southwest
coast of Florida by Charlotte Harbor, was one of the
hardest areas hit. Row after row of trailer homes
lay flattened, trees uprooted, businesses and homes
destroyed, debris everywhere the eye can see.
Although news agencies are reporting
relief organizations on the scene, it was Convoy of
Hope that was first relief agency on site -- deploying
even before the Red Cross arrived. What they have
found is, as on-site COH representative Steve Ewing
said, "like a scene out of a movie."
According to Ewing, "People were
walking around with the heads in their hands, in desperation,
in a daze . . . you give them some water and it's
like you gave them a bar of gold." Ewing and
other COH representatives have spent time praying
for people who have been stunned by this disaster.
According to David Moore, senior director
of administration for COH, even as Charley built in
strength, Convoy of Hope was deploying every truck
it had available to Florida. "We had two outreaches
already going on, one in New York and the other in
Wisconsin," Moore says. "Logistically, we've
been scrambling, but we have six trucks there now,
some of which have been loaded and unloaded more than
once -- we also have other trucks there that don't
have our name on them."
So far, COH has provided about 450,000
pounds (nine truck loads) of water, food and cleaning
supplies. They have even found a supply of "nearly
limitless" bottled water for free. However, excluding
two trucks (led by Troy Dugan, a HopeNetwork partner)
that made a run from Ohio then dropped their loads
and headed for North Carolina, it's having to be line
trucked to Florida from North Carolina at a cost of
$2,500 a load.
Moore says that with temperatures soaring
into the high 90s and tap water still unavailable
in areas such as Punta Gorda, the need for drinking
water and ice cannot be overestimated. "Our number-one
need is water and ice," Moore says. "We
also need volunteers as many of the trucks are having
to be unloaded by hand -- the available fork lifts
in the area are often being used elsewhere."
Moore also added that fencing is becoming a growing
need as crowd control is becoming increasingly difficult.
Along with working with the Red Cross
and other relief organizations, COH has been requested
by FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) to stay
for a prolonged period and assist with meeting needs.
In order for COH to remain on site and
provide needed supplies and services, estimates of
the costs are well into the hundreds of thousands
of dollars -- and assistance is needed in order to
meet the increasing demand (see the COH Web site at
http://www.convoyofhope.org/>).
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