PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — Operation Blessing has people on the ground in North Carolina and Georgia, which were affected by Hurricane Helene, and now, the team is in Florida after Hurricane Milton tore through the state.
“We’re being able to see a lot of branches, a lot of debris from trees blown even into the streets, even into the sidewalks,” said Alan Motes, a deployment technician with Operation Blessing. “There’s a lot of branches everywhere in these areas. We do see a lot of roadside flooding. There’s still a lot of standing water on the sides of the roads and a few roads that we have come into contact with.”
Before the team sets up shop to help those in need, they are “assessing what’s been going on here in the Florida area, specifically the swath of the path of Hurricane Milton,” Motes said. “We’ve gone from east to west.”
Operation Blessing is happy to lend a hand because they are seeing great need.
“I believe in this area, especially Sarasota, that we’ve been looking at mostly for today, there is a great need,” Motes said. “We’re still trying to get into the Bradenton area and that’ll probably be tomorrow. And so I’ve heard some places in West Bradenton have a lot of need, a lot of devastation there.”
Once they find the right place, they will provide resources to help people get back on their feet.
“We’re going to be setting up and we will bring some equipment in and we’ll bring relief on a bigger scale than what’s behind me — meal kits, coconut water, that kind of thing,” Motes said. “And then we’ll hopefully be able to set up a feeding operation as well.”
To help support Operation Blessing, visit their website. They also need volunteers.