Treasure Coast, Florida deputies in Panhandle helping with storm recovery
First responders from the Treasure Coast are working hard to help the people from areas devastated by Hurricane Helene.
The Indian River County Sheriff's Office sent 13 deputies to Suwannee County. The deputies have been there for a few days and will be there for at least another week.
"To get some of the roads open and get some of these residents of food and water at some distribution centers," said Sgt. Clifford Labbe, with the Indian River County Sheriff's Office, is supervising the unit of deputies.
Labbe says those distribution centers are critical because so many store shelves remain empty.
He says some of the work the deputies are doing includes removing trees from homes and roadways and assisting the Suwannee County and Bay County sheriff's offices by helping those agencies take calls.
"They're so thankful to see us up here that we've traveled all that way to come up here," Labbe said. "If I was in that position and I needed help, I would want people to come to our county to see if they could help us out in our time of need also. We're all fellow Floridians, and we need to take care of each other."
Deputies with the Martin County Sheriff's Office are in Lafayette County. Deputies there are patrolling the area and watching over the town's emergency food supply and ensuring residents safely receive their emergency meal boxes.
As for the American Red Cross in South Florida, staff member based out of Miami are in Fort Myers. Staff and volunteers have already been spending the last two years helping the people there recover following Hurricane Ian .
"We're so we're really proud of the work that we've done here," said Stephanie Wesseling, development and communications manager for the South Florida American Red Cross. "So for for the people of Fort Myers and Pine Island and Lee County, they're resilient, but you can you can feel the despair."
In addition, five volunteers from the Palm Beach and Treasure Coast chapter of the American Red Cross are in the Panhandle working to help people there recover.
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