AFTER the STORM
26 October 2022 | Lisa Hall
BABCOCK RANCH COMMUNITY STEPS UP FOR OTHERS IN THE WAKE OF HURRICANE IA
WHEN HURRICANE IAN SLAMMED INTO SOUTH west Florida, one community rode out the storm with relative ease, letting its residents rally regional relief efforts to aid those less fortunate.
Since Babcock Ranch is inland, away from waterways and at a relatively high (for Florida) 30-foot elevation, the town was unaffected by flooding. And because the town has fully buried utilities and gets its electricity from a solar field with battery storage, it never lost power during the storm.
Babcock Ranch residents stepped up to assist with post-storm recovery by washing clothes and taking powerline workers staging from the nearby Lee Civic Center into their own homes, donating supplies and food to families who were at the emergency shelter in the Babcock Ranch Field House, and providing other relief efforts to aid outside the town’s borders.
