A 'Warm Meal Makes You Praise God' – Help Pours Into NC and Florida for Hurricane Victims
Residents in Tampa Bay have been sitting in long lines, desperate for gas to fuel not only their cars but also generators, in the wake of Hurricane Milton.
But the gas shortage has begun to ease.
More than 500,000 customers in Florida remained without power overnight.
President Biden surveyed the damage Sunday and announced $612 million in relief funds, including money to restore the power grid.
"We're going to do everything we can to get power back in your home," Biden said.
Governor Ron DeSantis has deployed 2,800 workers to remove debris over the next 90 days with the help of federal funds, saying, "We got approved for what we wanted."
Entire communities are in shambles after the disaster.
When Milton struck, residents of one Tampa neighborhood watched as their homes filled with floodwater and even sewage.
Kat Robinson-Malone said, "Our home took on about four to five inches inside, [and] about a foot and a half outside."
Her neighbor, Brooke Carstensen said, "The sewage wouldn't stop coming in, and at that point, it just wasn't safe. So, we got the kids ready, the animals."
Milton struck less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene passed through parts of Florida and went on to devastate western North Carolina with heavy rains and disastrous floods.
Up to 100,000 homes and businesses are still without running water in North Carolina, and it could take months to fully restore service.
Operation Blessing, from its base in Asheville, has already served more than 10,000 hot meals, provided 45,000 bottles of water and 200 solar lamps to residents who still do not have power and water.
Operation Blessing's Benjamin Brittain said, "These families have regular access to water through their wells but what happens when the electricity goes out is they no longer have access to this. So many are in need and will continue to be in need for the coming days and weeks."
They're helping North Carolina residents like Julian Moore who said, "There is absolutely no price you can put on what it feels like to sit down and have a warm meal, see neighbors, see people smiling. The warm meal makes you praise God, you're alive."
In Florida, the first Operation Blessing relief loads have arrived at Oasis Church in Bradenton.
Requests are already coming into the church from people who need help and can't afford to hire contractors to clean up the damage to their homes.
If you would like to support Operation Blessing as it helps those hit hard by hurricane victims, you can call CBN at 1-800-700-7000 or click HERE to visit Operation Blessing's website.
