Dorothy Edwards | Visual Journalist
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Hurricane Irma made landfall in Southwest Florida on Sunday, Sept. 10, 2017.
Some of the area's most vulnerable residents living in Immokalee, where almost half of the population lives below the poverty line and many are undocumented, were severely impacted after the storm.
Trailers, if they weren't reduced to a pile of debris, were left without roofs or walls. Some families were staying with relatives. Others, with nowhere to go, slept in tents and cars. Many stayed in their damaged trailers, often with mold growing inside from water damage.
Days after the hurricane, Immokalee residents had no power and were quickly running out of food and gas. Some families resorted to using gasoline from their cars to fuel grills to cook the last bit of food before it spoiled. FEMA housing assistance was slow to reach the area.
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Residents are evacuated from Heritage Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center on Friday, Sept. 8, 2017 in preparation for Hurricane Irma. Evacuations were ordered for areas west of US 41, where the center is located. -
Immokalee Fire and Rescue crews wait out Hurricane Irma as it moves closer in Immokalee on Sunday Sept. 10, 2017.
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Battalion Chief Josh Bauer and Lt. Cody Rogers complete an initial assessment of the damage after Hurricane Irma came through Immokalee on Sunday Sept. 10, 2017.
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Maria Romero, 6, steps over debris in her home the morning after Hurricane Irma came through Immokalee on Monday, Sept. 11, 2017. The storm ripped off the roof of her family's trailer. The family has nowhere to go.
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A woman walks in to her trailer from her flooded yard on the morning after Hurricane Irma came through Immokalee on Monday, Sept. 11, 2017.
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Mold on the ceiling of the Samantha Tindell's Immokalee trailer on Friday, Sept. 22, 2017. Tindell and her partner and two children had been sleeping in the tent due to damage and mold in their home, until a thunderstorm flooded their tent after this photo was taken.
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Eustolia Flores, right, and her daughter Jocelyn, 1, stand in their trailer that was destroyed by Hurricane Irma with their neighbor Anita Martinez in Immokalee on Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2017. Flores and her four children are staying in Martinez's trailer for now.
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Andris Flores, 8, plays in front of his family's trailer that was destroyed by Hurricane Irma in Immokalee on Thursday, Sept. 14, 2017. Eustolia Flores and her four children set up a tent outside of their trailer to sleep in until their neighbor purchased a generator. The family is staying with neighbors in their trailer next door.
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Families wait in line for food and supplies at RCMA in Immokalee on Saturday, Sept. 16, 2017.
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Macrina Cruz cooks the last of her family's food on a propane heated portable stove in front of her Immokalee home on Monday, Sept. 12, 2017. Cruz's family evacuated before the storm and planned on buying more food there, but many stores were out or had gouged the prices. Since Immokalee lost power when Hurricane Irma hit on Sunday, people have lost the food in their refrigerators and have not been able cook what is left. Many families didn't overstock on imperishables before the hurricane, like it is advised, because they didn't the extra funds or stores ran out.
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Families walk away from RCMA after receiving food and supplies in Immokalee on Saturday, Sept. 16, 2017.
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Florena Galindo, 17, and her sister Jocelyn Flores, 1, take a break from the heat outside their trailer that was destroyed by Hurricane Irma in Immokalee on Thursday, Sept. 14, 2017. The family is staying in their neighbor's trailer with them for now. They lost power in the storm.
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Samantha Tindell sits on a mattress in a tent outside her damaged Immokalee trailer on Friday, Sept. 22, 2017. Tindell and her partner and two children had been sleeping in the tent due to damage and mold in their home, until a thunderstorm flooded their tent after this photo was taken.
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Kelly Olsen of Blaine, Minn. hands out donated supplies at Immokalee High School on Saturday, Sept. 16, 2017. Olsen's family drove a trailer full of donations to Immokalee from Minnesota.
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A mother and daughter walk back to their trailer after receiving donated water in Immokalee.
