The Recovery continues after Hurricane Michael

The recovery continues after Hurricane Michael ripped through the Florida Panhandle.

Most of Mexico Beach has seen massive structural damage and complete destruction. The Martin County Sheriff’s Office sent its rapid response team to the panhandle Saturday afternoon to help with relief efforts. The group of about 15 deputies will help with public safety. This will include a patrol for looters, assist with traffic control, search and rescue missions and enforce curfews in areas still without power.

Saturday afternoon the deputies enjoyed a hot meal before holding a briefing and packing up supplies to head up to the panhandle. The team was sent off by Sheriff William Snyder and Congressman Brian Mast. The task force will be up there for about 2 weeks, and a second team could be sent up to relive the first group.

Michael didn’t help break up the red tide in the gulf. If anything, it made it worse thanks to the winds pushing the algae bloom back up on shore along with tons of dead fish.

There are several groups collecting supplies to send to the panhandle. Team South Florida is one of those groups. They are a non-profit law enforcement charity, and will be collecting supplies this week at various locations throughout South Florida.

Locally, you can drop off at the Stuart Police Department on Martin Luther King Jr Blvd. A bin has been placed in front of the building where you can drop off the donations. Supplies will be collected until Thursday, then on Saturday all of the supplies will be loaded onto various trailers and shipped out to the Panhandle to be delivered to the law enforcement agencies and fire rescue stations most impacted by Hurricane Michael.

The Martin County Council of Chambers is joining together with Armellini Express Lines Inc and Venture Construction Group, Inc. to help with the Hurricane Michael Relief Efforts! Please consider donating any items you can, clothes, food, water, building supplies, generators, first-aid products, etc. to the drop off location nearest you!

The Stuart/Martin County Chamber will be accepting donation items from 9am-4pm Monday-Thursday and from 9am-1pm on Fridays. There is no drop off deadline at this point, but we will keep you posted!

Your items and support are greatly appreciated! Please call us at 772-287-1088 with any questions or for more information.