Hurricane Irma: Struggling Copeland residents band together
Greg Stanley
On the front porch of a mobile home in Copeland, David Brewer used a Sharpie to draw a new outline around the silver dollar-sized sore on the heel of Christian Keefe, 12.
The swelling had gone down a bit Tuesday, and the red sore from a bug bite had receded from some parts of the outline drawn a day earlier, while spreading slightly in others.
In Copeland, a community of a few hundred people about 7 miles north of Everglades City, bug bites, scratches and cuts always have been a matter of course, but now they are a cause for concern.
"I've seen a lot," said Brewer, a former medic with the Army Rangers who grew up in Copeland. He pointed to a pool of standing water just off the side of a road. "That scares me."
Throughout the area, Hurricane Irma unleashed storm surges that left behind contaminated floodwaters and sludge that might have sickened one man who died Saturday. Another man lost a leg, and at least a half-dozen people were sent to a hospital.
On Tuesday, Collier County Pollution Control found fecal coliform bacteria "too numerous to count," in all three samples it took of receding floodwaters near Everglades City.
Copeland, which is farther inland than Everglades City, Plantation Island and Chokoloskee, didn't get flooding or wind damage as bad as its neighbors. But like Everglades City, the people of Copeland received little or no medical help from federal, state and county agencies in the week after the storm.
With no gas, power or cellphone service, Copeland was cut off, residents said.
"We’re a lost community," said resident Lisa Walker. "They left us in the cold."
Walker has a generator that powers a small window unit. She is housing her friend's family while the area waits for power to return. Ten people, including five kids, are crowding around the window unit at night trying to keep cool.
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Most of the homes in Copeland fared relatively well compared to other communities that, like Copeland, are made up primarily of aging mobile homes and double-wide trailers. Floodwaters still line some of the roads, but the bacteria-filled water stayed out of the houses, for the most part.
The majority of trailers and homes survived the wind, but not all of them did.
The storm knocked off the roof and destroyed the home that Maurice Burgess, 24, had been living in with 15 family members.
The family has split up into different places. Burgess, who has lived in Copeland his entire life, is staying with his aunt.
"We lost everything," he said.
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No road crews came to help clear trees and debris from roads or roofs. Neighbors helped each other cut their way out with chainsaws.
The small Baptist church near the entrance of the community has turned into a supply hub for residents. Rolls of toilet paper took up one pew, while packets of bottled water covered another.
"The good Lord blessed me," said Will Joe, 39, a commercial fisherman, as he helped organize the donations.
Joe's home had survived. His friend's home in Chokoloskee was a total loss.
After helping sort supplies at the church, Joe said, he would be back in Chokoloskee helping his friend salvage what he could.
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