The three storms crisscrossed Polk County, Fla., in 2004, leaving behind an estimated $1.2 billion in property damage. It was the county’s worst natural disaster on record, officials said, and it stretched the resources of government.
The likelihood of another disaster on a similar scale, although remote, remains a concern for emergency operators and the handful of nonprofits that fill in the gaps, agencies such as Salvation Army, which played a lead role in assisting 2004 storm victims with hot meals, water and other supplies.
Lessons gleaned from that experience left Army officials wishing for a central warehouse that could be used to store vehicles and supplies, and serve as a post-disaster staging area for ongoing relief.
Their wish has been granted.
A 20,000-square-foot emergency disaster facility soon will take shape in Lakeland at the Salvation Army’s George W. Jenkins Community of Hope off Kathleen Road, just south of Sleepy Hill Road.
Ideally situated near Interstate 4 and central to Salvation Army’s operations throughout greater Tampa Bay, the warehouse will be fundamental to the faith-based organization’s mission of providing relief in times of disaster, whether natural or man-made.
“To have it on our property will be wonderful,” said Maj. Ken Morris, who oversees Salvation Army’s Lakeland-area operations. “If a storm hits we’ll have the supplies here, and we could do emergency shelter if we had to.”
Funding for the facility comes from a $1.2 million state grant, with additional dollars provided by Salvation Army. The full cost won’t be tabulated until a construction contract is awarded, Morris said.
The warehouse design received input from Pete McNally, Polk’s director of emergency management, who said the facility is needed to supplement county resources.
“It will be helpful to us because the Salvation Army does a lot in times of disaster,” he said. “They do a lot of feeding and distributing goods throughout the community. They did a tremendous amount of outreach in 2004.”
In addition to warehouse space, the building will serve as a disaster recovery center, McNally said, providing space and parking for a multiplicity of relief organizations to operate and meet face-to-face with victims.
The Lakeland warehouse will complement a handful of other storage facilities operated by Salvation Army throughout the state, including a 50,000-square-foot warehouse in Tampa that will play a lesser role in Polk in the event of future disasters, said Kevin Smith, divisional disaster director for Salvation Army in Florida.
During the summer of 2004, the Lakeland Salvation Army was pressed into using the Sun ‘n Fun property to dispense and store food and supplies, serving some 10,000 meals for storm victims in Polk and parts of surrounding counties, Smith said.
With its own warehouse and relief center, Army officials in Polk will be better prepared in the future, he said. “We’ve always known it would be important to have a facility there (in Lakeland). We’re very excited about it.”
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