Galleries > Photo Gallery THE HEART OF DISASTER Posted by Disaster Relief Ministry of CCC on Aug 27, 2004, 11:31

THE HEART OF DISASTER

The CCC Ministries Disaster Relief group was dispatched into the heart of the disaster in Arcadia, Florida. This was one of a number of Command Centers that were set up across the state of Florida. Each Command Center was located in or near some of the areas hit the hardest by Hurricane Charley.

Hurricane Charley left destruction and devestation across the entire state of Florida. The two pictures above are common sites that can be seen in the areas where the eye of the storm passed.

This is a shot of the historic Arcadia Lodge. Located in the heart of downtown Arcadia you will notice some of the damage to this building.

One of the immediate needs that people had was for temporary roofing on their homes. This is one of the homes that the team from CCC covered to protect the interior of the house.

Many areas of Arcadia are neighborhoods of mobile homes. Driving through any of these neighborhoods it was common to see the remains of what had once been someone's home.

This sign was posted on the door of the First Baptist Church of Arcadia's Disaster Relief Command Center. This roof was put on by the team from CCC. The people in and around the Arcadia area were very gracious and appreciative to all of the relief workers who had come into their area and in spite of their loss and emotions took the time to say "Thank You"

If you approached this historic school building from one side it looked as if it had no damage at all. However when you moved to the backside you noticed that there was no longer a backside to the structure.

This home was assigned to the CCC Team. The task was to move away debris so that the well could be repaired. The owner of the home was an 81 year old woman who had been there for over a week with no power and obviously no water. 

This is another photo of the same home mentioned above. The blue item in the middle of the picture is what was left of the well. The debris between the camera and the well was what needed to be cleared out so that the well could be repaired.

This home was another stop for the CCC Team. Built on stilts the entire structure had shifted due to the winds of Hurricane Charley. The winds tore off the entire side of the roof and collapsed the ceiling in the interior of the home.

As you can see from the picture above and the one below the area to be covered was large and the height of the house made the roof that more difficult to repair.

This mobile home had portions of its roof entirely gone. The structure was compromised and the walls moved when the wind blew. One of the things that happens when Disaster Relief moves into an area is that the immediate need must be met. The immediate need in this case was to cover the roof and keep the parent and young child that live in this home dry.

The picture above is what is left of a man's entire home. The gentleman that owns this place was excited and appreciative of having people there willing to help. An immigrant to this country he could not be prouder of the way the people in his adopted country respond to help others in crisis

This is another view of the home on stilts. This is not the place to be standing if you don't enjoy heights

Keep the people who have lost so much in Hurricane Charley in your prayers. Many of lost their homes and have a long journey of recovery in front of them.