Hurricane Idalia: Project HOPE’s Response

On August 30, Hurricane Idalia made landfall as a powerful Category 3 storm near Keaton Beach, Florida, with maximum sustained winds of 125 miles per hour.

Florida’s Big Bend region, between Tampa and Tallahassee, is an area highly susceptible to flooding and experienced storm surges that flooded coastal areas and destroyed hundreds of homes and businesses. Major damage spanned 100 miles, affecting the towns of Steinhatchee, Perry, Cedar Key, Keaton Beach, and Horseshoe Beach.

Project HOPE’s Emergency Response Team deployed in the aftermath of Hurricane Idalia to deliver hygiene items and other essential supplies to protect the health needs of affected communities.

>> Learn more about our full response in our situation report here.

Our Response

Project HOPE’s Emergency Response Team (ERT) was providing support in Florida within 24 hours of the storm’s departure. The team immediately connected with Palms Medical Group, a nonprofit clinic in Live Oak, Florida, to provide assistance to affected clinics. With the insight from Palms Medical Group, the ERT delivered hygiene supplies, including diapers, toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, and other essential items to the clinic, which is located in Suwannee County.

Through Project HOPE’s partnership with MAP International, we provided additional disaster hygiene kits to Palm Medical Group for distribution within the community. On Friday, Sept. 1, our team delivered additional hygiene items and cleaning supplies to Horseshoe Beach, where the wind and flooding tore apart homes and businesses.

Project HOPE also provided a generator to Partnership Health Center in Valdosta, Ga., which serves between 4,500 and 5,000 patients yearly for Federally Qualified Health Center services. With this generator, Partnership Health Center will be able to safely supply patients in need with medicines that require cold-chain storage, like insulin. Project HOPE previously collaborated with Partnership Health Center to support community-based efforts to increase access to and confidence in COVID-19 vaccines.

In Steinhatchee, Project HOPE’s team provided hygiene items and cleaning supplies to a distribution center at the marina that supports about 1,000 community members a day. In Dixie County, Project HOPE coordinated with the emergency management office to supply their distribution sites with essential items.

Project HOPE’s History in Florida

Project HOPE responded to Hurricane Ian in southwest Florida in 2022 and has ongoing programming supporting affected communities. Project HOPE provided partner support and directly engaged with communities following the storm: The ERT provided direct medical provision through the deployment of medical volunteers to Pine Island and surrounding areas and distributed cleaning supplies, basic hygiene supplies, and other essentials to approximately 12,000 community members.

Through a partnership with the Multicultural Center in Sarasota, Project HOPE continued to support the distribution of those items for several months and funded a care coordination program to ensure economically disadvantaged community members were supported and able to access health care. In collaboration with Capacity Path, Project HOPE provided mental health resiliency training to frontline workers as they processed trauma and recovered from acute stress in the storm’s aftermath. 

Project HOPE’s Domestic Hurricane Responses

Project HOPE has a long history of responding to natural disasters and has responded to several hurricanes in the U.S. and territories, including Hurricanes Ian, Fiona, Harvey, Irma, Maria, Laura, Ida, and Katrina.