Hurricane Michael’s Oct. 10 landfall brought near Category-5 strength winds when it came ashore at Mexico Beach, near Panama City on the Florida Gulf Coast and Catholic Charities USA has been credited for recently designating $1 million in donated funds for the hurricane victims.
The physical impact of Hurricane Michael and the anticipated recovery period for parts of the Florida Panhandle appear to be on a scale of last year’s Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, according to the church’s top emergency management specialist in Florida.
In the wake of Hurricane Michael, which left 13 known dead and more than 1 million without power two days after it ravaged the Florida panhandle, the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee, whose territory was smack in the path of the Category 4 storm, is moving from prayer to action.
With EMS service suspended in some parts of Florida as Hurricane Michael made landfall Oct. 10 in the state’s panhandle area with sustained winds clocked at 155 mph, at least least two dioceses offered prayers for those in the Category 4 storm’s path.
