FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - After historic flooding impacted people’s homes, residents arrived at Holiday Park Gymnasium to seek shelter.
About 40 people and their pets took shelter at the gymnasium, at 1200 G. Harold Martin Drive, Friday.
7News spoke with the shelter’s manager, and she said that they are working around the clock to provide people resources.
Inside the shelter are families and people with disabilities.
One blind man at the shelter was rescued from his home Wednesday night by Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue with a boat after his home was flooded with 3 feet of water.
Several people at the shelter are frustrated with local officials due to a lack of communication and a lack of resources.
On Friday afternoon, Fort Lauderdale mayor Dean Trantalis thanked the state delegation and Gov. Ron DeSantis for declaring a state of emergency because now they can tap into funds to help people.
Trantalis also said that FEMA is on the ground to assist.
Residents at Holiday Park said that they’ve had no contact with case managers, and they are begging county officials to do something to accommodate them.
The gymnasium can hold up to 100 people, but, according to those inside, some of these accommodations are not great.
The mayor also mentioned that people that need food will receive warm meals, but that has not been the case for several people taking shelter.
“I’m grateful for the fire rescue who picked me up at 1 o’clock in the morning, brought a boat to my door at 3 feet of water because I couldn’t get out,” Avalon Conley said. “I’m very grateful for everything that’s here in coordination, but to feed us, you’re going to give us apples, oranges and bananas? I mean, that’s part of the regimine, but it’s unacceptable.”
Conley is a military veteran and has been reaching out to Veteran Affairs, but his calls have gone unanswered.
“I was in the Air Force. I can’t even get a contact with my damn VA counselors,” Conley said. “I have told them my circumstances, I got renter’s insurance. You’d think they would call me and say, ‘Hey, your rental insurance covers a hotel.’ They won’t even follow up with me.”
The county is doing what they can as they pump out water in several neighborhoods, but people at the shelter are unsure when help will arrive. The are calling for officials to speak to them face-to-face.
“I think they should really look into the situation that people have to live, and we need help,” said a person at the shelter. “This is America, this is Florida, so whatever assistance, especially for housing, to put us up in a hotel for a week or two until we are able to get on our feet someway, somehow.”
The Salvation Army dropped off food at the shelter Friday morning, but it is unclear if those meals were warm.
Conley said he will stay at the shelter as long as he needs to because he cannot go back to his apartment to assess any damage due to his blindness.
The Red Cross Shelter manager told 7News that they are setup to be at Holiday Park until Sunday.
With Broward County being in a state of emergency, she said they are planning it by ear day-by-day, and they will stick around for as long as they have to as they continue to assess the county’s need.
If you’d like to help the people at Holiday Park, you can stop by the shelter and bring whatever you can.
There are about 10 pets at the shelter, and kennels are needed.