Hurricane relief: The work has just begun

By Thomas Nelson, tnelson@charlescitypress.com

Over the last month hurricanes have devastated the Gulf of Mexico, leaving entire islands without power and killing hundreds.

Billions of dollars worth of damage has been done to infrastructure and homes, with Puerto Rico and parts of Florida and Texas all getting particularly hard hit.

A Charles City resident is helping out in the middle of it.

“There’s a lot of destruction and a lot of flooding and a lot people out of their homes,” said Stewart Coulson, a Red Cross volunteer currently in Fort Meyers, Florida.

Coulson is working with hundreds of other Red Cross volunteers, and said so far the relief effort is going well, though slowly.

“I’ve been doing outreach,” Coulson said, “distributing water and clean-up kits and shovels, food, hot meals.”

The people that Coulson has helped have overwhelmed him and others with gratitude, he said.

“They’re very appreciative that we’re here and tell us that constantly,” Coulson said, but added, “they still have gigantic needs.”

Coulson and the Red Cross have been using bulk trucks and mass feedings, he said.

“Primarily I’m working in three counties and we have five shelters in these three counties,” he said. About 2,000 people had been housed in those shelters after Hurricane Irma went through.

“Now the shelters are down to 500 people,” Coulson said. “We’re helping people get home.”

At the shelters volunteers are helping people make plans and the Red Cross is offering financial assistance where needed.

Coulson has been a disaster mental health volunteer for the last 12 years with the American Red Cross. He had recently been in Canada helping deal with wildfires there.

“I’m working with people that are stressed out and fatigued and don’t know what to do,” Coulson said about the people in Florida. “They’re worried for their families and their kids, and they don’t know what they’re going to do when they leave the shelter.”

Help from the Red Cross is based on priorities.

“First it’s relief for the most obvious and immediate needs people have, which are food, water and shelter,” Coulson said. “Then we move out from that.

“The recovery phase will go on for a long time,” he said. “This is going on in Naples, Orlando and Miami and all the way up to Georgia.”

Whenever there is a disaster of this magnitude the Red Cross gets more volunteers, Coulson said.

“Volunteering for the Red Cross is a wonderful experience,” he said. The Red Cross helps provide victims of disasters with the most basic of needs that are often forgotten.

“People lost their toothbrush and toothpaste,” Coulson said.

His efforts providing relief don’t all involve national or international disasters.

“I work local fires in Charles City,” said Coulson, who is part of a disaster action team, or DAT.

What’s done for a family that lost their home to a fire is similar to what’s done for a family that lost their home to a hurricane, “just take that time 100,000,” he said.

Coulson is currently working with a team of about 15 health workers.

“The operation changes and evolves every day, but the mission remains the same,” he said. “We go into neighborhoods and we discover pockets of people that have not been helped at all.”

Most of them have got power back now, he said, but being without power for a length of time means losing all the food in the refrigerators. Floors get wet and they fall apart.

“Disaster assessment has just begun,” he said.

The Red Cross is 90 percent volunteer, Coulson said, “coming from all walks of life — people that just have incredible hearts.”

Most of the volunteers that come in are there for two weeks, he said.

“Everyday we have 500 people going and 500 people coming in,” Coulson said. “The duty of the Red Crossers is to give the victims hope to show that the rest of the world, including Charles City, is there to help them.”

Coulson hopes that while he is in Florida he’s representing Charles City and Iowa, he said, “Letting them know that Iowa’s here.”

As of September 25 there have been eight hurricanes in the Atlantic Basin. Hurricane season runs from June 1 to Nov. 30.

There have been five major hurricanes this season and normally there are only two by October, said National Weather Service LaCrosse Meteorologist John Wetenkamp.

A major hurricane is defined as a category 3 or higher, with winds from 111 mph to 129 mph.

Currently the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico is without power or relief as many volunteers are needed in Florida and Texas still, but some on the mainland are gearing up and preparing to go to the island.