North Port Hurricane Ian evacuees recount their experiences while waiting at church rally point
NORTH PORT – Cathy Mondro, her husband and their two dogs were able to get out of their house.
Waiting outside San Pedro Catholic Church Friday afternoon, she recalled floodwaters slowly surrounding their home that morning. Her husband waded to a neighbor’s house, where he borrowed a kayak that he used to rescue his wife and Molly and Duffy – the two dogs.
Mondro felt relief when leaving her home by kayak. “There was no place to go,” she said.
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Once they reached a dry area, their neighbor took them to North Port Police Station. National Guard soldiers then brought them to San Pedro Catholic Church.
Mondro and her husband, Paul, were one of the numerous households that were taken to the church Friday afternoon after being evacuated from flooded areas of North Port. The church acted as a rallying point – evacuees waited by the building's entrance before being taken by buses to a shelter in south Sarasota or being picked up by relatives.
Wesley Mauger and his partner, Danielle Leonard, were waiting to take one of the buses to Sarasota, where they planned to stay with a relative.
An airboat had rescued them from their home on Narcissus Terrace, a road north of Interstate 75. They said their entire neighborhood was experiencing flooding.
“Everything was flooded,” Leonard said.
Mauger said that all of the evacuees waiting at San Pedro were friendly to one another.
“It’s been a lot more positive than I would have ever thought,” he said. “Everybody’s just kind of trying to get through the storm together.”
The Rev. Thomas Carzon, the church’s pastor, handed out water and food to the evacuees and provided them with information.
“Folks are in a desperate place,” he said, “and the Church is here to help, along with all of the other first responders who are actually going in and getting them out of their homes.”
Jennifer Cooks and her family were rescued from their home in North Port Estates on Friday. Her daughter has Acute Disseminated Encephalomyelitis, a rare neurological disorder, so she had to be lifted into the rescue boat.
Cooks said her daughter has been "pretty good," despite the fact that they couldn't run her medical machines because of the lack of power.
"But it was okay," Cooks said, "we made it through."
Anne Snabes covers city and county government for the Herald-Tribune. You can contact her at asnabes@gannett.com and follow her on Twitter at @a_snabes.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: North Port evacuees share their experiences in Hurricane Ian
