2024 Hurricanes Special Appeal

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What happened?

On September 26, 2024, Hurricane Helene made landfall in what is known as the Big Bend Region of Florida as a category-four storm. This storm brought a devastating 20-foot storm surge and 140 mph winds. As the storm continued to move north through Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virgina it brought heavy rain that caused devastating flooding. Hurricane Helene was one of the deadliest hurricanes in recorded history with an estimated death toll of at least 230 people. Hurricane Helene is also estimated to be one of the most expensive storms in history with estimates of infrastructure damage as high as $200 billion.

On October 9, 2024, Hurricane Milton made landfall on Florida’s west coast as the eye of the storm passed over Siesta Key, Florida – impacting many of the same communities impacted by hurricane Helene two weeks prior. In addition to the heavy winds and rain, Hurricane Milton brought with it 46 confirmed tornadoes across Florida and claimed an additional 32 lives.

Who was impacted?

Hurricane Helene substantially impacted UCC communities across the impacted area. Churches and camps hit particularly hard include:

• Pass-A-Grille Beach Community Church in St. Pete Beach, FL – sustained substantial flooding
• Church of the Isles in Indian Rocks Beach, FL – sustained substantial flooding
• John’s River Valley Camp in Collettsville, NC sustained substantial tree and wind damage, as well as catastrophic flooding that destroyed the camp’s only access bridge.

Hurricane Milton also significantly impacted UCC communities within the storm’s path. Churches hit particularly hard include:

• Pass-A-Grille Beach Church in St. Pete Beach, FL – sustained additional flooding and wind damage
• Church of the Isles in Indian Rocks Beach, FL – sustained additional flooding and wind damage
• Saint Andrew United Church of Christ in Sarasota, FL- sustained wind damage
• First United Church of Tampa, UCC in Tampa, FL – sustained substantial tree damage to their property blocking road access for their neighbors

The United Church of Christ has 214 churches, and two camps located in the impacted areas across Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Tennessee. Although the majority of the UCC’s churches in the impacted area sustained minimal damage, many of the wider communities in which these churches are located were less fortunate. Many of the residents of these communities lost their homes as a result of catastrophic winds and flooding and face a long road to recovery.

Much of the media attention on the storm’s devastation focused on the greater Asheville and greater Tampa areas – both regions certainly did suffer catastrophic damage. We are also aware of a large swath of communities stretching between these two areas who have been significantly affected and are likely under resourced.

How are we responding?

The National Ministries of the United Church of Christ (NMUCC) is committed to accompanying communities that have been impacted by climate-caused disasters throughout the entire long-term recovery process. We recognize that this process often takes many years after the disasters have faded from daily news cycles. Beginning in the hours after a storm’s impact, our goal is to ensure that communities have access to the resources that they need. We do this by connecting with local clergy, associations and conference staff, ecumenical partners and Volunteer Organizations Active in Disasters (VOADs). As communities begin to move into longer-term recovery, we continue to collaborate with other ecumenical and community partners to ensure that communities are well supported throughout the recovery process.

In the early days after the storms’ impact the NMUCC’s Disaster Ministries team worked closely with local clergy and conference staff in the affected areas, participated in daily, weekly and monthly VOAD coordination calls, and developed a standing UCC coordination meeting that includes conference staff from the Southern, Southeastern and Florida conferences. These efforts helped to connect local communities with an abundance of immediate relief resources. Through early conversations, it became clear that there is significant concern about the impacted region’s capacity to sustain long-term recovery efforts. This is an area the UCC has a long history of supporting and is committed to supporting here.

Unlike the communities along the Gulf Coast that have previous experience standing up long-term recovery efforts, for many of the inland communities this is the first time they have had to set up long-term recovery groups and other local infrastructure to support long-term recovery efforts. As of late December 2024, many of these pieces are coming into place to ramp-up reconstruction and external volunteer groups as they help the affected regions rebuild.

Rolling Highlights of Recovery Initiatives

Grants Distributed