CORTEZ – Following the devastation in Cortez caused by Hurricane Helene, many individuals and groups stepped up to help the Cortez residents who lost so much in the Sept. 26, 2024 hurricane.
The Cortez Church of Christ was a distribution center for donated food and supplies.
“Right now, the one thing people here need is air mattresses. People are still sleeping on their wet couches,” Jenee Hall said at the time.
Church members set up another distribution center at Sunny Shores mobile home park and volunteers handed out paper goods, food and cleaning and personal supplies.
“We do need air mattresses and bedding,” Kevin Hall said just after the disaster. “Another thing people could really use is charcoal grills.”
Bob Hooper, who had volunteered more than 1,000 hours in 2024 doing repair and maintenance work for the Cortez Cultural Center and the Florida Institute for Saltwater Heritage (FISH) saw the flooding undo months of his work in refurbishing the old firehouse.
“We got about 4 feet of water in here,” Hooper said after the storm. “I’m going to have to clean this up and probably repaint the walls. The cabinets and doors got wet, and the refrigerator was tipped over and ruined.”
Hooper, who stores many of his own tools in a small outbuilding next to the Cortez Cultural Center, lost those tools when the building caught fire.
“There was a rechargeable battery in there and when the saltwater hit it, the whole building went up,” he said. “The fire burned down to the water line.”
He said it was fortunate that the winds didn’t carry the flames to the Cultural Center, which contained many historical artifacts, records and photos of the fishing village.
Many old books and historical records that had been stored in Fisherman’s Hall were ruined by the floodwaters.
“We are creating a list of who here needs what type of help. We’ll then connect volunteers to those residents. So grab your rubber boots and come help us pick up the pieces,” a Facebook post on Star Fish Company’s page stated.
Despite having flooding in her home, Gail, a longtime Cortez resident, said she would never move away.
“You will never find another community where people help each other like this,” she said.
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