By Alison Laurio
Eighty-eight years in the past what was referred to as “The Nice Labor Day Hurricane of 1935” hit Florida on August 29. With winds of as much as 185 mph, its strain was essentially the most intense of any Atlantic hurricane to make landfall on file. The Lauderdale Day by day Information on Sept. 3, 1935, wrote the class 5 storm killed 408 folks, and people “caught within the open have been blasted by sand with such pressure that it stripped away their clothes.”
In September 2022, Hurricane Ian was the deadliest hurricane to strike the state of Florida for the reason that 1935 Labor Day hurricane. Ian precipitated harm from Cuba north via Florida, via the Southeast and up the coast to make what USA At this time referred to as “a devastating landfall” in japanese Canada.
Daybreak Brown, MSW, government director of NASW-Florida, stated when the state issued its first early warning, she started sending emails and postings to alert all members and maintain them knowledgeable, one thing she continued all through the storm.
“There was an e mail despatched to all members together with a social media submit on Fb that alerted members, future members and the neighborhood that our chapter workplace would stay open so long as it was secure and we had energy,” she stated.
Brown stated all through the method she additionally requested for steering from her chapter government colleagues and board members, in addition to the NASW nationwide workplace.
“We held an emergency board assembly to debate the influence of Hurricane Ian and neighborhood sources together with wants that have been recognized,” she stated.
When requested if there have been volunteers to assist when people or a neighborhood wanted it, “everybody wished to assist,” she stated.
The state was sensible to shortly grant approval for out-of-state social employees, Brown stated, and she or he assisted in serving to them join with teams just like the American Crimson Cross and Volunteer Florida. The chapter additionally basically partnered with colleagues and everybody would store for donations, she stated. “We collaborated to assist communities in want.”
NASW members can learn the total story within the NASW Social Work Advocates journal after logging in here.
