She hit with speeds exceed-ing 140 mph and brought torrents upon torrents of rain down upon Florida’s east coast.

A myriad of homes and businesses sustained damage, some no longer in existence.

While it’s still not clear the dollar amount of damage caused by Hurricane Frances, early estimates range into the billions.

In Melbourne, Fla., a city that has had its share of close calls when dealing with hurricanes, this was the first time it suffered a direct hit.

Even after the hurricane subsided, there was still little cheer to be found.

As temperatures rose toward 95 degrees Fahrenheit and with the city’s residents without electricity, air conditioning, and telephone services, thinks looked bleak.

And then they came.

They, the American Red Cross volunteers from various cities and towns across the United States, began arriving before Frances had finished raining its final drop.

They came from Pennsylvania, they came from Colorado, and, in the case of Naval Station Everett Command Master Chief (SW/AW) Eric Emery, they came from Everett.

The Everett Red Cross boardmember and longtime volunteer spent more than two weeks in Melbourne assisting the hurricane relief effort and, slowly, helping the community recover its composure.

“I arrived at 6:30 a.m. in Orlando, Fla. It seemed like chaos when I first arrived because there were about a thousand volunteers showing up at the same time,” said Emery. “But I soon realized that these people knew what they were doing and had done this many times before. It just looked disorganized to me because I’m used to military organization, but they really had their act together.”

“They gave me my orientation brief at 8 a.m. and by 9 a.m. I was on my way to the east coast to start work,” remembered Emery. “They trained me in mass care which is the easiest thing to get into. It involves being able to work in a shelter, serve food, and talk to people who’re having a really bad day.”

Once he was brought up to speed, Emery was put in charge of a group of 10 people and assigned to a shelter in Melbourne. 

“When we arrived, the shelter had enough people to help with the feedings, but there were four tractor-trailers sitting outside,” he said. “Two were filled with supplies for the Red Cross and two were filled with ice and water.”

“So we began a system where a car could roll through and receive three bags of ice, one meal for each member of their family, and a clean up kit consisting of a broom, mop and other supplies so they could start cleaning up after the storm,” said Emery. “My team started doing that at about 11:30 a.m. and kept going strong until about 7 p.m. 

For the next week, Emery and his crew served almost 70,000 meals and even delivered MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) to areas that were not easily traversable.

“Fortunately, my rental car was a Ford Expedition so we could pack up to 300 MREs inside and drive them to people living in out of way places,” said Emery. “I was going out twice a day delivering food, water, and ice to these folks.”

“The look on people’s faces when we came carrying 20-pound bags of ice was unforgettable,” Emery reflected.

Ice was an imperative part of living for the hurricane-raddled community. Emery and the thousands of other volunteers worked tirelessly to ensure there was enough to go around.

“It was 95-degrees every day with no lights, air conditioning, or refrigeration, said Emery. “The homes were just unbearable to live in and the only thing they had to keep any food cold was the ice we were bringing in by the tractor-trailer load.”

Perhaps most daunting was the news that while the relief effort was taking place, there were reports that Hurricane Ivan was on the way.

“We were very worried about Hurricane Ivan for a while. When they thought Ivan was heading our way, they gave us the opportunity to leave and go back where we came from or to set up and stay in the shelter and ride it out,” said Emery. “Nine out of 10 of my group decided to stay. Fortunately for us, Ivan ended up taking a turn and traveled up the Gulf of Mexico.”

By week two, Emery’s group was told to change its focus from feeding the area residents, to evaluating the community’s damages.

“The second week was spent going out and doing quick damage assessments on homes to estimate the level of damage it took and whether it complied with initial reports,” said Emery. “We were trying to decipher which homes had legitimate damage and which people were just trying to play the system.”

It was during these inspections that Emery realized that Florida had learned from its earlier hurricane experiences.

“After Hurricane Andrew came through the south in 1992, a lot of the building codes had changed,” he explained. “So it wasn’t uncommon to see a destroyed pre-Andrew house sitting between two post-Andrew homes that only suffered only minor damage.”

Following more than two weeks of labor-intensive volunteering, Emery returned to Everett Sept. 22. However, he says that his time in Florida was very rewarding.

“We were working 10 and 12-hour days, but we really got to help countless people and we really derived a great deal of satisfaction out of the work we did,” smiled Emery. “We were there first thing in the morning getting things ready and stayed until after dark. It was a great feeling knowing that you’re helping these folks.”

Sadly, Emery spent last weekend as a spectator, watching Hurricane Jeanne hit almost the exact same location as Frances.

“Two hurricanes hitting the exact same spot in an area that’s never had a direct hit in recorded history, it’s pretty phenomenal,” lamented Emery.  “I was watching Jeanne come in this weekend and I noticed the correspondent from CNN was broadcasting from the parking lot of the hotel where I stayed for a week while there.”

Although Emery says it’s difficult to watch Jeanne undo a lot of the work that the various volunteers spent weeks undertaking, he knows help is on the way.

“The Red Cross has some really special people working for it,” said Emery. “As soon as this storm ends, you know they’ll be right back out there helping those in need.”