Florida Catholic | Preparing to be in the next bulls-eye

Preparing to be in the next bulls-eye

DENISE O’TOOLE KELLY | FLORIDA CATHOLIC STAFF

Published: 08.20.08

ORLANDO | When a tropical storm just might take aim at your coastal community parish, there’s more to think about than whether the buildings are battened down.

Just ask Cindy Ser, parish manager for Santa Maria del Mar in Flagler Beach, which was in that situation Wednesday afternoon, Aug. 20. Tropical Storm Fay was offshore, after causing widespread flooding and a couple of tornados on a path across the state from south of Fort Myers to around Cape Canaveral. And forecasters were saying the storm’s next target would be between Daytona Beach and St. Augustine, putting the parish in the bulls–eye. Ser’s parish was prepared, not just to do its best to prevent property damage but also to make sure the corporal and spiritual needs of parishioners and the community’s needy would be met if the storm were to hit.

“We have a hurricane preparation and recovery guide that is issued by our diocese,” said Ser, noting that the Diocese of St. Augustine’s 50–or–so–page publication covers all those topics.

The beachside parish’s current church building was dedicated in 2000, so it was built to post–Hurricane–Andrew standards and also held up through the three hurricanes that affected Flagler Beach in 2004. Ser said the parish is also fortunate that the community in which it is located does not have a big problem with poverty and homelessness, though some needy are served through its St. Vincent de Paul Society.

“We have not had anyone come to us asking for assistance (preparing for the storm) up to today. We hope that means we’ve done a pretty good job up to this point meeting the needs of the community,” she said.

So all that was left to be done Wednesday afternoon was to see if the forecasts were correct.

“For right now we’re kind of saying our prayers,” she said. “We’ve prepared as much as we possibly can and like the rest of the state we’re just going to wait and see what happens.”

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