[Episcopal News Service] Less than two weeks after the Parrish-based Diocese of Southwest Florida began cleanup efforts and assessing its churches damaged by Hurricane Helene in late September, the diocese began preparing for the arrival of another major hurricane — Milton.
“I’ve lived in Florida most of my life, and I have not seen two storms that have affected a good portion of this part of Florida back-to-back like this,” Southwest Florida Bishop Douglas Scharf told Episcopal News Service.
The second Category 5 hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, Hurricane Milton had decreased in strength to a Category 3 storm when it made landfall near Siesta Key about 35 miles south of Parrish on Oct. 9. At peak intensity, Milton became the fifth-most intense Atlantic hurricane on record with a pressure of 897 millibars. At least 16 people in the United States are known to have died from the storm. As of Oct. 11, more than 3 million people throughout western Florida are without power.
Lindsey Nickel, the Diocese of Southwest Florida’s director of communications, told ENS that diocesan staff have been unable to survey some of the churches on the state’s barrier islands, including St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Boca Grande, a small community that’s sustained considerable damage from Milton and remains inaccessible. Four of the seven churches significantly damaged by Helene have also been affected by Milton. Most churches, including the diocese’s Dayspring Camp & Conference Center in Parrish, have no power, cell phone, or internet service. Right now, many diocesan staff, including Scharf, are cleaning up the hundreds of felled trees at Dayspring.
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