Hurricane Ian’s destruction across Florida has prompted many immigrants to take action and help rebuild damaged parts of the state. However, they now face an emotional challenge as weathercasters announced on Saturday that Tropical Storm Julia will strengthen into a hurricane and affect parts of Central America where some of those immigrants are originally from.
A number of immigrants came to Florida from New York, Louisiana, Houston, and Dallas to help fix the damage that Hurricane Ian left behind, CNN reported on Friday, citing Saket Soni, executive director of the nonprofit Resilience Force, that advocates for workers who help respond to America’s natural disasters.
Soni added that the group is made up of many undocumented immigrants who travel across the country as they prepare to help repair and clean up areas after a natural disaster hits.
“What you have now is basically immigrants who are sort of traveling white blood cells of America, who congregate after hurricanes to heal a place, and then move on to heal the next place,” Soni said, according to CNN. “Many who were traveling in the opposite direction weeks ago are now traveling to Florida to help rebuild.”
Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images
Hundreds of immigrant workers, including half who came from out of state, came to Fort Myers, which suffered extreme flooding from the hurricane, to help repair the damages caused by Hurricane Ian, according to Soni.
They came to repair the damages in the city, which is located in a state whose Republican Governor Ron DeSantis said will use “every penny” in a $12 million state budget to relocate migrants out of Florida in a public display weeks ago in an effort to make a point about the Biden administration’s alleged mishandling of illegal immigration. Last month, DeSantis helped fly out 50 immigrants from Florida to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts.
Meanwhile, wives of Fort Myers’ roofers, painters, and electricians, among other workers, who are mostly Guatemalan and Mexican, gave out food to those who suffered from the flooding, according to the Sun-Sentinel. Other volunteers also handed out canned goods and clothes.
The workers will be making repairs on destroyed homes, which includes removing debris from lawns, fixing roofs, and painting, even when they don’t have the resources to rebuild their own homes, according to the newspaper.
Additionally, the volunteering immigrants will not only grapple with receiving government assistance to repair their homes due to their illegal status in the country, but they could also be bracing for a possible emotional toll as a result of Tropical Storm Julia hitting parts of their home countries.
Bracing for a New Battle With ‘Julia’
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) announced in an updated weather advisory posted to Twitter on Saturday that Tropical Storm Julia will strengthen to become a hurricane.
The NHC said that a hurricane warning was in effect for portions of the Nicaragua coast and the islands of San Andres and Providencia.
“Hurricane-force winds and a dangerous storm surge are expected in areas where the core of the system crosses the islands later today and moves onshore in Nicaragua early Sunday morning,” the NHC said in the weather advisory update.
Julia will be causing rainfall accumulations, between 2 to 12 inches in some areas in Central America, according to the Miami Herald.
“Life-threatening flash flooding and mudslides are expected across portions of Central America this weekend. Flash flooding is possible across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Mexico early next week,” the NHC said Saturday, adding in a separate tweet that “Flash Floods and Mudslides Possible From Heavy Rains Over Central America Through the Weekend.”
Tropical Storm #Julia Advisory 9A: Julia Heading Toward Nicaragua in a Hurry. Life-Threatening Flash Floods and Mudslides Possible From Heavy Rains Over Central America and Southern Mexico Through Early Next Week. https://t.co/tW4KeFW0gB
— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) October 8, 2022
There is an increasing chance that Julia could still remain a tropical storm as it moves across Central America, according to the NHC. Tropical storm warnings and watches have already been issued along the Pacific coasts of El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua.
Julia left Colombia on Friday as it headed to the Caribbean Sea, with winds reaching 40 miles per hour, according to the Miami Herald.
Newsweek reached out to Resilience Force for comment.
