700+
VOLUNTEERS
300+
JOBS COMPLETED
38,500+
VOLUNTEER HOURS
450+
LIVES IMPACTED

Florida Hurricane Ian Relief

October 2022 – September 27
Last updated: March 2024

All Hands and Hearts (AHAH) is in Florida responding to the devastating impacts of 2022’s Hurricane Ian. Utilizing our volunteer-powered disaster relief model, as of March 2024, we have impacted over 450 people affected by the hurricane.

Find the details about volunteering on this program here.

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Our Work

Since the program’s launch in October 2022, All Hands and Hearts has conducted various scopes of disaster relief work in Ft. Myers and surrounding Lee County, which suffered massive damage to homes and infrastructure in the hurricane. In our second year of operation, our goal remains to get vulnerable community members back into safe, secure, and functional homes.

The impact of this work extends beyond physical improvements. For the families and individuals assisted so far, each property cleared, each home stripped of muck and mold or repaired provides a foundation for renewed hope. Together, the households assisted in contributing to a stronger, revitalized community.

Current Activities

Our staff and volunteers continue to respond to recovery needs in Fort Myers, Florida. Thus far, we have conducted 20 critical repairs, removed debris such as damaged personal items or furniture from 36 homes and properties, completed muck and guts that included removing mud, silt and water-damaged materials from over 115 homes, eradicated dangerous mold from 74 homes and removed hazardous trees from 69 locations.

Working alongside Sheltering at Home for Recovery Continuation (SHRC), our team is close to completing crucial repairs on 20 homes. With the help of a Red Cross grant, we are providing vital interior repairs to an additional 25 homes. Thus far, the team has repaired 17 homes, providing homeowners a safe space to call home again.

Disaster Profile

Hurricane Ian started as a tropical depression on September 24, 2022, and underwent a rapid intensification, making its first landfall in Cuba as a category 3 hurricane. After intensifying to a category 4 hurricane, it made a second landfall on the west coast of Florida near Fort Myers on September 28, causing devastating impacts to coastal cities and towns along with catastrophic flooding further inland. Ian’s 150 mph winds, storm surge and rainfall caused power outages across the state, damaged infrastructure and overturned cars and boats. After slowly crossing central Florida, the storm exited at Daytona Beach and made another landfall in South Carolina as a category 1 storm.

Ian ties seven other storms as the fifth strongest to make landfall in the United States. Its wind speed was shy of a category 5 hurricane with sustained winds of 157 mph. At landfall, there was at least a 12-foot storm surge in the Fort Myers area, destroying homes and causing extensive flooding.

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