Our Irma Story
Hurricane Irma has been our greatest test to date. Hurricane Irma came as we were still recovering from Hurricanes Hermine and Matthew, and many of the same communities were impacted. Hurricane Irma was a large storm, affecting every county in our conference. Widespread power outages made communication nearly impossible.
Conference staff and UMCOR worked tirelessly to respond. Building on years of training and experience, our newly staffed Irma recovery, working with our many local, state and national partners, brought order to chaos and opened a path for recovery.
Florida Restores, an initiative of the Disaster Recovery Ministry, became the face of our Hurricane Irma Recovery Project. The recovery began in November 2017 – 2 months after Irma made landfall twice in Florida – and closed in December 2020. The project was funded by $11,497,165 in grants which allowed us to hire close to 50 staff to provide project support (administration and operations) and direct services (disaster case management, construction coordination and volunteer management) to those impacted by Irma.
Conference staff and UMCOR worked tirelessly to respond. Building on years of training and experience, our newly staffed Irma recovery, working with our many local, state and national partners, brought order to chaos and opened a path for recovery.
Florida Restores, an initiative of the Disaster Recovery Ministry, became the face of our Hurricane Irma Recovery Project. The recovery began in November 2017 – 2 months after Irma made landfall twice in Florida – and closed in December 2020. The project was funded by $11,497,165 in grants which allowed us to hire close to 50 staff to provide project support (administration and operations) and direct services (disaster case management, construction coordination and volunteer management) to those impacted by Irma.
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We began our recovery operation in November 2017, two months after Hurricane Irma made landfall twice in Florida. We set up five recovery regions, covering 15 counties. In some of those counties, we were still doing recovery from the 2016 Hurricanes Hermine (west coast of Florida) and Matthew (east coast of Florida). Other counties were included because they were among the hardest hit, in some of the poorest communities of Florida, with limited availability and access to resources.
We hired disaster case managers, construction coordinators and volunteer coordinators in each region – nearly 50 staff – to partner with survivors for their recovery. We collaborated with local, state and national partners who provided grants, material resources and volunteers. We also worked with Home Depot and Lowes to receive discounts and rebates, as well as local retailers, when possible. |
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Hurricane Irma Clients Served
Households Contacted |
17,816 |
Cases Opened |
1,418 |
Homes Repaired |
584 |
Referrals Made |
5,882 |
Cases Closed |
1,103 |
Volunteer Teams |
354 |
Number of Volunteers |
3,596 |
Volunteer Hours |
74,950 |
Volunteer Labor |
$2,066,244.39 |