In East Orange County, many unhoused people had to choose between riding Hurricane Milton out in the open or leaving behind all they own to seek shelter.
For Tony Peters in Bithlo this meant leaving behind everything he’s built in the two years he’s been unhoused -- tents, a shed, his tools to work, and even solar panels. For him and his girlfriend, it was their lives.
But flash floods forced them out.
“I’ve been hearing about flash floods my whole life, but I’d never actually seen one before. That water came up fast. I’ve never seen water come up that fast before -- not even during Ian or Irma,” Peters said.
Peters and his girlfriend had to be rescued by local community members, including other unhoused members, who came in on a canoe. They fit all they could and got out of there with their lives.
Now, Peters said, he fears there isn’t much to go back to, and they don’t know what’s next.
“Even though we were homeless, that was our home, you know? It’s no different than having a house and seeing it gone. Same feeling. I’m not exactly sure what the next step is. I don’t know,” Peters said.
For people living in the woods in Bithlo and lacking transportation, county emergency shelters were a difficult destination. Many shelters also don’t accommodate pets or for people to bring in their camping gear.
The Framily Support Network and United Global Outreach went out into the woods to reach out to the unhoused people stuck there for the storm. They were able to get 35 unhoused people into a community resource center called Transformation Village.
The place is not a shelter of any kind. It offers a number of services and resources to low-income community members and people living in poverty.
However, now that the storm is over, people must head back out.
“And in East Orange County, you’re out to no other options but the woods,” said Tim McKinney, CEO of United Global Outreach.
But the woods are still under water. McKinney said it is at least 6 feet deep and would take weeks to recede.
Tony Peters works on his motorbike at Transformation Village. Before two back surgeries, he said, this put food on the table and a roof over his head.
In the meantime, people have to find a place to stay. He said Transformation Village and local partners can only do so much, and he wants to work with the county to do more.
“We’re not enemies with the county; we have a great relationship with them, and we need to partner and find a location, so that unsheltered populations can have at least the option of a shelter, whereas no option exists today,” McKinney said.
McKinney said the water got up to about 11 feet. Now that it’s lower, some of the belongings that were fastened to trees are poking out of the water. They look torn and damaged.
Aaron Lewis, CEO of Framily Support Network, said many unhoused people will need to rebuild.
“I mean there really is nothing for them to go back to, which is the sad part. So this is where it’s now going to fall on county governments and looking at all the resources that we have available to figure out what we can do for them because going back there is not an option whatsoever,” he said.
Orange County said in an email that they opened 11 general population emergency shelters for the storm and took in about 2,600 people. They also said the county allocated $10 million toward homelessness this year and have a scheduled meeting in November to decide how to best direct these funds and that talks about building homeless shelters across the county, not just the east side, are heading the discussions.
McKinney said the nearest shelter was too far for people who’d have to trek there.
He also said Peters and his girlfriend can stay at Transformation Village until the water recedes, but it’s not something they would normally do and that the region is in dire need of alternatives and support.
Peters said he has faith and hopes everything will work out.
“You work your whole life to end up like this,” he said, crying. “But it’s going to be okay. It’s going to work out. I know it is. I can’t give up.”
The Orange County meeting to discuss the homelessness funds is set for Nov. 19.
The staff at Transformation Village is helping everyone they can but say they need support.
Lillian Hernández Caraballo is a Report for America corps member.
