South Florida Hurricane Aid, Volunteers Being Sent To Hurricane Ravaged Bahamas
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - By air and by sea, supplies and volunteers from South Florida continue to head to the Hurricane Dorian ravaged northern Bahamas.
Sunday afternoon, a 110-foot medical yacht True North was packed with supplies in Dania Beach in preparation for their voyage.
During the weekend Hope 4 Hope Town was formed, a coalition of organizations spearheaded by Fort Lauderdale's city commission.
"We needed captains, we needed charters, we needed permission from the government, we need all different kinds of forms signed and we got all of that and when we got our final permission there were tears in the room," said volunteer Julie Berry.
South Florida-based Tropic Ocean Airways has been sending their fleet of amphibious seaplanes to aid in the relief effort, accessing some of the hardest to reach areas with the help of Blue Tide Marine and Global Empowerment Mission. They've helped rescue more than 200 people and transport 50 tons of critical need supplies.
After witnessing the extent of the devastation and the large number of people still stranded, they teamed up with Delta to bring in a bigger plane.
"The evacuation needed was much larger than we can handle on our own and that our existing assets could handle," said Tropic Ocean Airways Chairman George Mattson.
Delta brought in an MD88 aircraft capable of evacuating hundreds of survivors at a time.
"We managed to put a plane down in Marsh Harbour today together with our partners, with Tropic Ocean and it really worked out very well to get some people off the island in large numbers," said Delta SVP Gareth Joyce.
Florida state Representative Frederica Wilson also flew to the Bahamas Sunday morning.
She landed in Nassau where she met many families who've been left with nothing.
She took to social media writing, "This one of many families I've encountered in Nassau today that hurricane Dorian has forced to start over. They will relocate from Abaco Island to Long Island, Bahamas."
Volunteers of all ages have shown their support for the islands, letting them know they're here to help as long as it takes.
"We will not forget you, this is not a one-week effort, we realize that this is a long-term effort, this is not a sprint, it's a marathon and we're going to be there through and through," said Shelly Tygielski.
Wilson is scheduled to fly out of Miami on Monday and share with Congress the stories first hand that she encountered in the Bahamas.