Press & News

Hurricane Ian Pummels Cuba, En Route to Florida

SPRINGFIELD, MO — SEPTEMBER 27, 2022 — Convoy of Hope is responding to Hurricane Ian by providing those affected with food, water and relief supplies. It will send team members and response vehicles to Florida as soon as it is safe to do so. 

Hurricane Ian made landfall in Cuba early Tuesday morning as a major Category 3 hurricane. The storm is predicted to grow even stronger before it hits the western coast of Florida late Wednesday or early Thursday morning.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) is predicting life-threatening storm surge, flash flooding, mudslides and devastating wind damage in Cuba today. Florida will begin to see the first signs of the storm by late today. Dangerous storm surge and hurricane-force winds could arrive by Wednesday morning.

“One of the things we’re hearing from Florida management officials is that this is going to be a very widespread flooding event,” said Stacy Lamb, senior director of Convoy of Hope’s U.S. Disaster Services. “With that, we know the need for cleanup supplies is going to be big.”

Yesterday, Convoy of Hope team members and volunteers bagged and loaded thousands of pounds of relief supplies in preparation for deployment to Florida. Teams will continue to bag groceries and much-needed resources up until and after Convoy’s fleet of response vehicles initially depart the World Distribution Center.

The last major hurricane to make landfall in the U.S. was last year’s Hurricane Ida (Category 4). The last major hurricane to make landfall specifically in Florida was Category 5 Hurricane Michael in 2018. Convoy of Hope responded to both storms.

About Convoy of Hope

Convoy of Hope is a faith-based organization with a driving passion to feed the world. With a long history as an early responder in times of natural disasters, Convoy of Hope has been a Four Star Charity as recognized by Charity Navigator every year since 2002. Convoy of Hope has served more than 200 million people since it was founded in 1994. For more information, please visit convoyofhope.org.