Hurricane Ian came through western Cuba to make landfall in Florida as a catastrophic category 4 storm on September 28. Whole cities and communities were devastated in Florida and the storm continued to bring heavy rain, wind and flooding up the east coast of the U.S., affecting numerous states.
The Florida Annual Conference received a solidarity grant from UMCOR to address the immediate needs of survivors and deploy supplies. In South Carolina, Ian was the first hurricane to make landfall in nearly six years and UMCOR awarded a solidarity grant to the conference to help address immediate needs.
In Florida, an UMCOR consultant will provide assistance with planning and logistics and a program manager is working on the development of a short-term relief grant while a long-term recovery program is developed. In South Carolina, UMCOR will assist with the development of long-term recovery grants.