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With a shovel over his shoulder, Jonathan Malanga walked Tuesday morning into Orlando's Barnett Park ready to help whoever he could by shoveling sand into bags ahead of Hurricane Milton’s arrival.
“I was getting angsty on the couch watching news about Milton, and figured this would be a better use of time,” Malanga said. “I’ll help until they either run out of sand or my arms fall off.”
Malanga left his car in a lot next to the park and walked to the sand mounds. Behind him, was a line of hundreds of Orange County residents waiting hours for their turn. The park opened at 9 a.m. but the line for bags began much earlier.
Chris Johnson of Rosemont (just north of Orlando) got in line at 8:30 a.m. He arrived at the sand mound location at around 11:30 a.m.
Johnson lives in an upper-story apartment and doesn’t need sandbags, but his neighbor on the first floor does.
“They don't have a shovel, so they wouldn't have been able to come out here and pick up anything unless they went and bought one,” Johnson said.
He decided to save them the trouble and he got in line for them.
He shoveled sand into 10 bags, tied them off, and carried them to the car. Before he spotted a couple without a shovel. He stayed behind and helped them out with their bags, too.
“If you can help people, why not?” he said.
Most arrived at the park to retrieve bags for their home preparation. John Drust, of Polk County, got in line at around 8 a.m. to get bags for his Orlando-based job, American Eagle Concrete Services.
“The road in front of our building floods during thunderstorms. So we definitely need (bags),” he said.
Hurricane Milton will be Drusts’ first hurricane. He’s not too worried about it, having experienced Super Storm Sandy which struck the New Jersey-New York area in 2012. But he’s not messing around with flood water, especially after seeing videos of the flood waters Hurricane Ian produced in 2022.
The Orlando resident walked from sand mound to sand mound offering his shovel and his endurance helping dozens of residents.
“If you're in a flood area, get out of there. We've seen the videos of what happened last time with everybody. You don't want to mess with water,” he said. “That water ain't no joke, it comes up so quickly on you, you’re dead. There's nothing you can do about it.”
Meanwhile, with Malanga, he had helped about a dozen folks in about an hour’s worth of time. He took a break on the side for a moment.
“We’re closer to the arms falling off than the sand (running out) I think,” Malanga said.
He wiped the sweat from his forehead, and he went back to shoveling.
