Flooding has been a big worry with Hurricane Ian, and many marginalized communities and communities of color live in low-lying areas in multi-generational homes.
To learn more about their needs, WMFE environmental reporter Amy Green talked with Chevalier Lovett of Florida Rising, an advocacy group.
LOVETT: So that's a really good question. My mom, by the way, is in one of those communities. She sent me a picture just this morning, outside of her home. I've never seen our street that flooded. And in fact, it's coming up, you know, three-ish feet. So what folks need the most is some sort of help and relief.
GREEN: And what are some examples of some of those needs?
LOVETT: While a ton of the world and a ton of our state, we were out prepping for the hurricane. Others, and folks from our communities, were working so they did not have the time to go out and prep in the ways that we were able to, so water, food, clothing, the proper necessities just to live.
I want to take us back to 2017 very quickly as well. What came out of, so Irma happened in 2017. And what we saw in our communities that there, we were often seen last.
And so community groups like Florida Rising, we all came together and decided that we needed to set up community hubs. So a ton of our communities throughout the state have what these, what we call these disaster resiliency hubs.
So they know they can go to these places and get the food that they need. They know they can go to these places and get the clothing that they may need. And they can also go to these places, and we can connect them to, oh, your power is still out. Well, let's get you connected with your OUC rep. Or let's get you connected with their FPL rep.
GREEN: Where are some of these hubs that you're mentioning?
LOVETT: If we're talking about central Florida, we have some in Eatonville. We have some in Osceola County, Kissimmee specifically. And we'll be able to share out more information on that. So you can also check our website for that as well.
And Amy, if I can add another thing, another layer. There's a ton of folks that listen in, and folks want to know what they can do to help.
We have a grassroots hurricane resiliency fund. And those funds, those donations go 100% directly into us getting the needs into marginalized communities, low-income communities, communities of color, folks who really need these items, and who are not able to prep.
GREEN: We know that with climate change, we will see more damaging hurricanes. And we also know that marginalized communities and communities of color are most vulnerable to these impacts, as you mentioned. What are some lessons that we might learn from Hurricane Ian?
LOVETT: We have to fight for our own needs to help combat what these things were. We saw that with Maria with the influx of Puerto Ricans that came into our state. And then right now with Ian, what we know is we still need to go to our state and local officials and fight for what those climate needs are.
Climate does not discriminate. It is what it is. We've created this process for our Mother Earth, but the ability to respond to climate processes and disasters do discriminate, and our communities are always left behind, to be last.
And so we can demand that we get equitable representation when it comes to climate disasters.
