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In the Wake of Charley, Already-Impoverished Communities Are Struggling

Posted: Sunday August 22, 2004 11:25 AM EST

By Melina Pavlides Church World Service

HARDEE COUNTY, Florida - The damage and debris we saw in Orlando foreshadowed what was to come, as Heriberto and I backtracked on the path of Charley southeast towards the coast.

Our trail led us into Hardee County, where evidence of the storm’s destruction grew alarmingly worse. First we hit Fort Meade. Then Bowling Green, Wauchula, Zolfo Springs and Ona - all devastated communities.

There was some degree of damage to all structures in these areas. Most major, some minor. Some areas were just carnage of twisted metal remnants. All of these communities represent vulnerable populations. The majority of affected residents are either Spanish-speaking immigrants from Ecuador, Mexico and Puerto Rico or Creole-speakers from Haiti.

All of the communities affected here are impoverished. Many families are renters and most are under-insured. Because the storm was projected to make landfall to the north, many residents here did not evacuate, and all who lived through Charley and its aftermath are traumatized. They have not had running water or electricity since the storm; with temperatures soaring in the mid-90s, they are “taxed.”

One of the residents is Marie Torres. When we first met Torres, the manager of a mobile home park in Bowling Green, she was leaping from a neighbor’s car, rejoicing in actually having an iced tea for the first time since the storm.

Her joy quickly turned to tears as she recounted, in Spanish, her experience of hiding under her mattress with her dog as the storm, which she described as “eternal,” passed over Bowling Green.

When she felt the worst was over, she recalled, Torres ran into the lot, fell to her knees and “made peace with God.” But having done that, Torres said she is still worried for the families who live in the park. “They need everything, especially the young children,” she said. Seven of the families who live there are in now in temporary shelters.

Just down the road, another mobile home park manager, Constanza Grasso, said 40 families lived at her park, most of them fieldworkers.

“We are tired,” she said, noting that some 30-40 people now want to live temporarily at the park, but “we have no place to put them.” She was hoping that state emergency management personnel might provide the park with a large propane tank that would give residents water for two hours in the evening to take showers.

Though all of the churches in these affected areas have been damaged, many continue to serve the community with hot meals, water and other necessities.

Rev. Thomas L. Davis of the First Missionary Baptist Church in Wauchula, serves a primarily African-American and Haitian neighborhood called Magnolia Manor. He and his wife moved there three years ago.

Although this wasn’t the first hurricane the Davises have experienced, it was a first for many in his community.

For Rev. Davis, the reality of the storm and its aftermath are still setting in.

The church had some damage, but “we are still here,” he said. “We’ve got hot food and drinks for anyone who comes by,” he said.

The most important thing to him is to be able to have service on Sunday, “God willing,” he said with a quiet reticence.

To support relief efforts for victims of Hurricane Charley: phone (800) 297-1516; make a secure credit card contribution online; or send your check by mail to: Church World Service, P.O. Box 968, Elkhart, IN, 46515.

Media Contacts:
Ann Walle, CWS/New York, 212-870-2654;

Jan Dragin, CWS, 781-925-1526;

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