Opportunity to Help - Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Harvey

Hurricane Irma was a Category 5 hurricane and the strongest observed in terms of maximum sustained winds in the Atlantic since Wilma and Katrina in 2005. Throughout Florida, at least 82 people died in storm-related incidents. The majority of deaths occurred from drowning, trauma, and carbon monoxide poisoning. The Keys were hit hard - FEMA's initial estimate indicated that 25% of buildings in the Keys were destroyed, 65% were significantly damaged, and 90% of houses sustained "some damage

Hurricane Harvey was a Category 4 hurricane that hit the Texas in the end of August. The hurricane cause ~$180 billion in damage, making it a competitor to Hurricane Katrina for the most damage cause by any natural disaster in U.S history. Texas will need $125+ billion in relief from the government. It affected 13 million people from Texas through Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Kentucky. Harvey made landfall three times in one week. At peak on September 1, 1/3 of Houston was underwater. Two feet of rain fell in the first 24 hours. The flooding forced 39,000 people out of their homes and into shelters. Harvey is having a considerable economic impact. The Houston metropolitan area is the nation’s fourth largest city with almost 7 million residents. To put it in perspective, if Houston were a country, it would be the world’s 23rd largest economy, larger than many countries in Europe.

Due to Irma's and Hurricane Harvey's impact in Florida and Texas, the U.S. employment declined in September for the first time since September 2010. The leisure and hospitality industries were especially hard hit, losing 111,000 jobs in the month of September. Still in December, months after these devastating hurricanes, there are still many people in need. There are tens of thousands of people that won’t be able to have Christmas in their own homes this year. From Salt Lake, it’s a little hard for us to help in any way other than monetarily. Below is a great link to the United Way’s website. They have some interesting statistics about the hurricanes and have raised ~$75mm for hurricane relief. It’s amazing how good America is!

https://www.unitedway.org/recovery

If there are any other ways you can think of how we can help in the state, please let me know. This article was written by Ryan Van Wagenen, a native Cottonwood Heights man looking to better the community in the greater SLC. Before this year, almost all Ryan's daily focus was on himself, family and work. Now that he's retired and has a lot more free time, Ryan has decided to focus on helping others and philanthropy.