Grassroots Relief Effort in Ridge Manor

Ridge Manor has suffered massive flooding and the flooding has lasted longer than most of the disaster assistance has the attention span to support. Even for seasoned disaster responders, the situation is unique because, normally, the water quickly recedes after a disaster. Some of the homes in the area have been underwater for more than a month.

Ridge Manor restaurant owners Cynthia and Anthony Rogers and their staff at Southern Harmony Cafe have been involved in coordinating the recovery efforts.

Cynthia describes their recovery assistance efforts as grassroots. Their business Facebook page has become a disaster recovery resource for community members.

They initially got involved when one of their regular customers called them for help after the river crested and the associated flooding had begun to recede.

“One of our customers, who has become like family to us, calls us in a panic,” Cynthia said. She asked them to send them help, trucks, whatever they could and said, “It’s coming up.” “I’m like, what’s coming up? Because we know she doesn’t live on the water,” Cynthia recalled.

“So we weren’t expecting that,” said Anthony Rogers.

In some areas, the water table has become so high that water comes out of the ground like a spring.
“She was just in a panic and we get in our truck and get all of our employees. I mean, jump in our vehicles. We all run out to where she’s at and it’s like a mass exit. Everybody’s just throwing things in the back of their trucks. You know getting everything they can out of their houses as fast as they can.”

There was water already in their friend’s home. “She couldn’t get things out fast enough and so after that, we realized I guess the worst isn’t over.”

The Rogers called upon the Cajun Army for assistance. They volunteered twice with the Cajun Army in Louisiana after Hurricanes Laura and Ida. The Cajun Army, with volunteers primarily from Louisiana, agreed to come to Ridge Manor for a four-day window. They redistributed volunteers who were helping with disaster recovery in North Carolina to help get the muck and gut process started in Ridge Manor. They provided training to a group of volunteers that the Rogers had assembled. They gave them an orientation, explained how to use safety gear and how to muck and gut.

“They took people out into the field so they could see how it’s done- hands on,” said Cynthia Rogers.
Some of those volunteers were able to train their friends and family members so they could help more people.

Pastor Carlos from Saint Rita Catholic Church attended that first orientation and brought several of his congregants. They returned to their church and got busy recruiting volunteers over the next two weeks. Cindy said that they had managed to gather over 100 volunteers.

The volunteer force from Saint Rita Catholic Church had planned to assist with disaster recovery in Dade City last weekend, but the water hadn’t gone down enough in some areas, so they went to Ridge Manor.

“It was a collaborative effort,” Cynthia said, as area church members and individuals from Ridge Manor and beyond descended on the area’s flooded homes last weekend.

Pastor Kenny at Lifestyle Church of Lacoochee has been helping out with supply storage.
Needed supplies include tools, shovels, respirator masks, Tyvek suits, gloves, respirator filters, crowbars and wheelbarrows.

“Once we get people into the field, there’s really no way to get the supplies back,” said Rogers. They get left in houses or thrown in the back of the truck. “Every time we do a mucking and gutting we’re going to lose some items. There’s no way to keep track of it,” she said.

So they need people sending in a steady stream of supplies. Dehumidifiers are also needed. Once the mucking and gutting are done, it’s important to get dehumidifiers running to pull the moisture out. To donate supplies, contact Lifestyle Church of Lacoochee.

Cynthia described the muck and gut progress as very slow and careful because the homes have been sitting in water for so long. Materials have dissolved and removal requires more care as it is a dangerous situation, especially with the mold factored in.

She noted that some of the experienced disaster recovery volunteers the Rogers have worked with remarked that they’ve never encountered disaster conditions as they are in Ridge Manor and surrounding areas.

Cynthia Rogers said, “But this situation is very unique even for our disaster relief experts, like the people who deal with all kinds of flooding and terrible wind damage and things like that. With this disaster, instead of getting into a home like a day or two after the waters recede, the water has just been sitting on these houses for so long that stuff is just melting into the water with all the contaminants, all the materials. And it’s just intensifying the amount of work that is required and makes everything longer and harder and actually a lot more dangerous. The houses because of the length of time, sitting in the water, there’s going to be some of them that are total losses. They’re not going to be salvageable no matter how many volunteers they get in there. So it’s a very unique disaster.”