ROCKPORT/ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — Hurricane Irma was described by CNN as historic, unprecedented and devastating. Weather sources recorded it as the strongest Atlantic Basin hurricane outside of the Gulf of Mexico.

For many residents and businesses in southern Florida, they had already spent weeks and months recovering from Hurricane Matthew, almost one year prior.

Now, in September 2017, it was a double whammy coming from the wrath of Irma.

Thousands of volunteers from all over the country were flocking to Florida to help the victims. Many residents had been left without power and water, and trying to recover from the physical damage to their homes and businesses.

And, people were emotionally devastated.

The cleanup effort was so extensive that Florida officials were looking for volunteers with specific skills, one of them being tree and debris removal.

One evening soon after Irma struck, Nathaniel Bernier, of Lincolnville, was chatting with this girlfriend about the relief situation in Florida. He is the owner of Bantam Property Management and a licensed utility arborist, a skill that was needed for the tree cleanup.

“I can sit here for the next couple of days or I can do something,” said Bernier.

His girlfriend agreed to watch the kids and Bernier began making plans for a trip to Florida.

His first task was to set up a GoFundMe account to collect monetary donations to support the trip and to help with relief efforts. Funds were needed for trip expenses, gas for chainsaws, cleanup supplies, personal care items, and cases of water for the hurricane victims. 

Bernier’s goal was to raise $5,000 with the account and he put the word out on social media. He immediately raised $1,000 and many people were also donating supplies. 

“Raising that much money so quickly really was a huge motivator,” said Bernier.

In a week, the account had a balance of $5,460 with 90 donors.  

The next step for Bernier was to recruit a crew of volunteers to make the trip with him. Six volunteers initially committed to make the trip, but they withdrew for personal reasons, except for Juan Alcala, of Rockport.

Although Alcala is a private investigator, he has had several years of experience with tree work and was able to take time off from his job to travel south.

The pair left early morning on Sept. 11 from Rockport in Bernier’s pickup truck, its bed loaded with arborist gear and donations. But, it was several hours before they could begin traveling south on I-95.

They made several stops and kept loading up the pickup truck with more cases of water purchased from the contributions and donated supplies including toiletries, first aid kits, batteries, pet food, as well as hundreds of toothbrushes and other dental supplies from a dentist’s office in Waldoboro. The final stop was in Ayer, Mass., for diapers and other baby supplies.

They decided to first assist with the recovery efforts in St. Augustine on the northeast coast and work their way south, trying to stop at as many places as they could before heading home.

It took about 27 hours to arrive in the historic city of St. Augustine. Besides a few stops for meals and bathroom breaks, the 1,400 mile trip included trucking through pouring rain, fog and tedious traffic jams. The drivers traded cat naps to stay alert.

It was around noon on Sept. 12 when they arrived in the downtown area of the St. Augustine and saw first-hand the destruction that Irma left behind.

“It was so hard to believe the devastation and that people were going through this,” said Alcala. “There was debris everywhere. Trees had fallen through the roofs of several homes and power lines were dangling from trees or were down blocking roads. Many residents were attempting to dry out sofas, mattresses, carpets, and sometimes full houses of furniture, on the sidewalks.”

Approximately 60 percent of the city was without power, and running water was scarce. They also saw that many of the city streets, lined with beautiful Spanish colonial architecture, were still flooded.

Their priorities after arriving in St. Augustine included finding a restaurant with power to have a hot meal and connect with locals to find out where they could help out the most.

They found a local barbecue joint and met locals, who directed them to a neighborhood that was not yet touched by any relief efforts. The area contained the St. Francis House and the Homeless Coalition, the first an emergency shelter “safe” house for women and their families, and the other a collection of 18 homes, 1,000-square-feet each, where the homeless and their families can live up to two years while paying decreased rental fees.

St. Francis House was flooded during Irma and the residents were in a temporary shelter at a local hotel. The homes in the Coalition remained intact from the hurricane, but the surrounding area sustained considerable damage.

Alcala said that the folks who lived in these two housing facilities were already facing many life challenges, even before the hurricane. Now, they desperately needed supplies, like diapers and water, and cleanup.

When the duo arrived at St. Francis House, they unloaded supplies from the truck and also tended to removing a cedar tree that had fallen over two sets of power lines.

“We gave impoverished folks cases of water and handed single mothers the diapers they needed,” said Bernier. “There were bottles of Powerade for the young men helping us to unload the truck. Everyone was so thankful. These were items that most of us take for granted. It was very humbling.”

“We’re two rugged guys and we choked up when we saw how happy they were to see us,” said Alcala. “The gratitude from the residents of the St. Francis House and Homeless Coalition was unbelievable.” 

The next four days included wearing heavy chaps, helmets and hauling around heavy chainsaws in 90-degree plus weather while they removed numerous trees and debris that were blocking roads. Some of the fallen trees had landed on power lines and this removal was only handled by Bernier, since he is licensed to perform this type of work.

Since the hurricane damage in this part of St. John’s County was overwhelming, the men decided to concentrate their efforts in one area for entire time they were in Florida.

They took a few detours to deliver pet supplies to the local animal shelter, purchase more supplies and to drive around the neighborhoods closer to the water to see about more debris they could help remove.

They found one street, that Bernier said was appropriately named Water Street, and there was still a tree that had fallen across it, landing on power lines. They immediately removed the tree since it was blocking the street and could potentially hinder any emergency vehicles needing access.

Sept. 16 was their last day in St. Augustine. They delivered one last load of supplies to the St. Francis House and the Homeless Coalition.

 “We were met with smiling faces, handshakes and we quickly broke out into casual conversations as if we had known each other for much longer than the mere days we had been there. We dropped off more supplies such as water, non-perishable foods, baby diapers and formula,” said Alcala.

It was an emotional departure.

“Many of us gathered for a group hug, most of us sobbing, especially the folks who felt discouraged prior to our arrival,” said Bernier.

“Thank you, God bless, and ‘you’re saints’ were the departing words of many residents at the St. Francis House and Homeless Coalition,” he added.

While on their way to get lunch, the pair was then contacted by the Mayor of St. Augustine, Nancy Shaver, who wanted to meet with Alcala and Bernier before their departure.

Alcala said that when they arrived at her residence, she greeted them with a big smile and a hug.

“She invited us into her home and we spoke for about a half an hour about the city, the devastation and our mission,” he said. “As we were leaving, she asked if we had the time to help out a couple with a husband who was recovering from open heart surgery in Vilvano Beach and without hesitation, we said yes.”

Afterwards, it was finally time to prepare to leave for their journey back to Maine.

And, leaving was not easy.

“We could have easily stay here for a month to continue the cleanup,” said Alcala.

They arrived back in Maine on the morning of Sept. 18, again without stopping overnight to break up the long trip.

“Florida may be behind us for now, but we will never forget,” said Bernier.

“We are humbled. We are grateful. We are smiling. We are tired.”

Reach Sarah Shepherd at news@penbaypilot.com