Retirement center in Vero Beach evacuated to dodge Jeanne

VERO BEACH (FBW) – Attempting to dodge its second hurricane in just three weeks, Florida Baptist Retirement Center officials decided early Saturday morning, Sept. 25, they would have to evacuate its residents in anticipation of a powerful Category 3 hurricane projected to make landfall in the early morning hours of Sunday, Sept. 26. As was the case on Sept. 3 before Hurricane Frances hit, the retirement center evacuated residents and staff to the Family Life Center of First Baptist Church of Vero Beach.

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Florida Baptist Witness talked to Tommy McDaniel, administrator of the retirement center, at 11:00 AM Saturday and he reported the evacuation was almost complete, with the staff readying to serve lunch to its residents.

Approximately 60 residents – including 24 in nursing and 15 in assisted living facilities – and an additional 30-40 staff are part of the evacuation, McDaniel estimated.

Asked how the staff was bearing up under the difficult circumstances, McDaniel said, “We’re doing well. It’s just hard to believe we’re doing this again.”

Until late Friday evening, the staff had hoped to be able to keep the residents on the 22 acre campus, but the strengthening hurricane and increasing likelihood of landfall near Vero Beach dictated that an evacuation would be necessary.

Frances pounded the campus Sept. 4-5, bringing down many trees and causing roof damage and two inches of flooding in the nursing facility.

As in the case of Frances, residents will stay at First Baptist Church of Vero Beach in its Family LifeCenter until it is safe to return.

“They’ve been overly gracious to us; we can’t say enough good things about them,” McDaniel said of the First Baptist staff and membership.

“We’re just glad to” assist the retirement center, said Jim Newsome, pastor of First Baptist, in Sept. 25 interview with Florida Baptist Witness. “Our relationship with the retirement center has always been a tremendous one,” he added, noting that a large percentage of the Baptist residents are part of the First Baptist family.

Many members of First Baptist are still recovering from the battering the area experience after Frances three weeks ago, Newsome reported. Members had roof damage and flooding. Jeanne “will just make it extremely difficult because many of them have tarps to keep their houses dried in …,” he added.

The facilities at First Baptist Church had limited damage from Frances, Newsome said. “We’re quite good,” noting that while some buildings had minor damage.

“By and large, we were very, very fortunate,” he said.

Newsome told the Witness that he anticipated the church would need to host more feeding units, as it did after Frances when Southern Baptist Disaster Relief teams from Tennessee and Michigan assisted residents of Vero Beach.

In addition to expressing gratitude for the disaster relief teams, Newsome said that he was grateful for John Sullivan’s call after Frances offering assistance the church. Sullivan is executive director-treasurer of the Florida Baptist Convention.

“We’ve got a lot to get ready for now,” Newsome said about the impending landfall of Jeanne. “This is going to be a lot worse than Frances was, so we’ll see what happens.”

McDaniel believes the retirement center’s campus will hold-up structurally to the impact of Jeanne, but was concerned about the possibility of more building taking on water in light of the anticipated storm surge.

Although the staff hopes to be able to bring the residents back to the center as early as the evening of Sunday, Sept. 26, McDaniel said that decision will depend on the extent of the damage to the facility, which will be evaluated as soon as it is safe after Jeanne passes through.

“Continue to pray for us,” McDaniel requested. “The staff is pulling through again; they’re doing a great job.”