Thanks to everyone who prayed for us during Hurricane Milton (October 9, 2024). Perhaps the most remarkable thing about this storm was God answering so many of our specific prayers. I hope this post helps you join in praise.
Probably the biggest answered prayer was that Milton would miraculously diminish. It did. From a super-strong category 5 storm, it weakened to category 3 at landfall. And in direct answer to prayer, the southern half of the storm dried out and the eyewall disintegrated. In the picture below, notice the “missing” bottom half of the eyewall. As a result the Fort Myers area had much less rain, less wind and less storm surge than forecast. Years ago someone in Crisis Response began praying “God, blow dry air into this storm.” God answered that prayer.
Another answered prayer was for safety. Though there were deaths from this storm, there were far fewer than would have been the case if Milton had gone directly into Tampa Bay. Three million people live in the Tampa/St. Petersburg area, and one estimate said that the storm surge would have been two or three times as high (12 to 15 feet) in a direct impact. This would have resulted in much greater loss of life.
We are also praising God greatly for the safety of our team and the homeowners we have worked with. We had a string of tornado warnings as we returned Wednesday from helping prepare houses, but never saw (or heard) one. The image below shows the warnings. 90 tornadoes may have touched down. As for us, we had some strong wind, not much rain, and just 24 hours without power.
Ministry: This was a true answer to prayer. Because we stayed in the area (in the Fort Myers EFC church building) we were able to spend two days helping homeowners and church members get ready for the storm. These moments of fellowship and working together were a blessing. This is what our ministry is all about – relationships that glorify God.
Wherever we helped prepare a home, we prayed “Lord, let these preparations be unnecessary.” In most cases those prayers were answered. In the photo below you can see the waterline just a few feet outside of our friend Wanda’s house. Praise God that the storm surge was less than feared for many people
However, a few of our friends in North Fort Myers did get water in their homes. We helped rebuild these homes after Ian, some of them got storm surge from Helene, and now they’ve gotten another dose from Milton. Please pray for these people, for peace and endurance as they face the hundreds of steps needed to rebuild again.
The collage below shows the work we did in the first two days after Milton in Jim’s home. A couple of neat things in this image: In the upper left image, one of the people helping is John, whose home was spared in Spring Creek Village. He’s the one who became a believer a year after Hurricane Ian. Also in that image, in the blue shirt, is Brett, one of our favorite people who come and serve (known as Adjunct or Volunteer Staff). That could be you. Come volunteer with us! Finally, the little girl in that image is part of a family of believers who are friends of Jim’s. Brett taught her how to remove base trim. Her mom is in the lower right image.
Finally, you might notice that Jim is, by his own admission, a pack rat. To gut his house we moved a huge amount of stuff from his bedroom to his Florida room (enclosed porch). Then we moved stuff from his spare bedroom to his bedroom. When we’d finished gutting the spare bedroom we moved all that stuff back, then moved the front bedroom stuff back from the Florida room, then gutted the Florida room. Whew! I get tired even thinking about it, and so does Brett’s sore back!
Please continue to pray that ReachGlobal Crisis Response is enabled to respond effectively to Helene and Milton. We are setting up a new long term response site near Asheville, NC and we hope to respond as well to Milton’s worst impacts in northern Florida.
One key need in these responses is new staff. If you would like to serve for a few weeks, a month, or longer, please let us know. (For more information about coming to serve, just drop us a note or give us a call! Gail 281-797-8932; gail.degray@efca.org; Bob 281-787-7130; bob.degray@efca.org.)
Pray also for us (Bob and Gail) that we can increase our financial support. Among other things we’ve had to cancel several round trip flights between Houston and Fort Myers. Southwest graciously credits us for these flights, but it’s still cash out of our travel fund. Prayerfully considered support, one time or monthly, is greatly appreciated. Here is the link to our giving site: Bob and Gail DeGray