Destruction is everywhere in Madeira Beach, Florida. Street after street is piled with debris stacked as high as houses. Mountains of sand—washed in by Hurricane Helene’s unstoppable storm surge—tower over roadways.
“It’s been a very long time since we’ve seen a storm like this,” said Tracy, who was born and raised in the Tampa Bay area. She and her husband, Dale, returned to the region about 10 years ago when they purchased a small home in Madeira Beach. The community of around 4,000 people neighbors St. Petersburg, Florida, to the east and the Gulf of Mexico to the west.
The tiny city took the full force of Hurricane Helene’s floods. Then, two weeks later, Hurricane Milton tore through the area.
“We hoisted all of our furniture up on blocks and paint cans and cups, anything we could find to take on a couple of inches of water,” Tracy said. Instead, Hurricane Helene swamped their home with 40 inches of salt water.
“We opened the front door [of our home] and just held each other,” Tracy recounted. “It was total devastation inside.”
Samaritan’s Purse orange-shirted volunteers arrived in Dale and Tracy’s community just days later. “The help that came was overwhelming,” Tracy shared with tears in her eyes.
“When all the volunteers showed up, there were so many of them I lost count at like 20. We all gathered in the front yard of our house, and we prayed, and everybody came in and just went to work,” Tracy continued. “They got so much done in such a short amount of time.”
Canadian disaster relief specialists are leading the Samaritan’s Purse volunteer teams working throughout the Tampa Bay area of Florida. In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, followed by Milton, we deployed a Disaster Relief Unit tractor-trailer from Ontario to the region. Other Samaritan’s Purse teams from the United States are serving in storm-ravaged communities across the country’s southeast.
The volunteers serving at Dale and Tracy’s home removed water-ruined belongings, tore away soaked drywall, and will spray to prevent mold so their house is ready for repair.
Eleven-year-old Kelsey—about to celebrate her birthday in a few days—was on the team, working alongside her family. In her young life, she has already lived through four hurricanes. After Helene and Milton struck, she and her family drove over an hour to serve their neighbors in need.
“I can’t thank you all enough,” Tracy said. “Samaritan’s Purse was there for us. … We definitely feel the hand of God.”
The residents around Tampa Bay, Florida, face a long, difficult road to recover from these storms. They will continue to need our prayers and support to remind them that “the LORD is near” (Psalm 34:18).
Please also continue to pray for our teams as they share the Gospel in word and deed over the months to come.
Help Samaritan's Purse respond quickly to victims of disasters across North America, providing not only physical assistance as people clean up and rebuild after wind, floods, fires, and other disasters, but also emotional and spiritual support in the aftermath of tragedy.