Reality Sets in as Ian Aftermath Becomes More Evident

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A before and after photo on the Red Coconut RV Park GoFundMe pages shows damage at the Fort Myers Beach-based campground.

While Hurricane Ian left severe damage to several RV Parks in a three-county area in its wake, the message from the Florida Association of RV Parks and Campground (FRVCA) is that the state is open for camping.

“As much as we can, we’re trying to collect data and keep updated every second of the day,” said Bobby Cornwell, FRVCA executive director. “But first of all we want the message to get out that the vast majority of parks in Florida are, of course, fine. Yes, it was very disastrous in Fort Myers and that area, and there are several of affected parks, but outside that three-county area down there, the rest of the state is wonderful. There are sites. There is availability. The worst thing anybody could do right now is not come to Florida.”

Meanwhile, Dave Kelly, executive director of the Tampa-based Florida RV Trade Association (FRVTA), representing dealers and manufacturers statewide said his organization continues to monitor the situation.

“We’re still trying to reach out and access our members down there and see what they need,” Kelly said. “It’s all second-hand because communication is still hard to come by, but we hear that RV One (on Tamiami Trail in Fort Myers, formerly Palm RV) got severely damaged. We’re in the process of figuring out how to get in touch with everyone down there, just to see what their needs are but it’s just so hard to get communication.”

North Trail RV and RV Kountry, both also in Fort Myers, were spared major damage, Kelly said. “We’re still trying to reach Gerzeny’s (Gerzeny’s RV World in Fort Myers) because they were right there,” he added.

Dave Kelly

Kelly also is trying to reach out to get contacts from FEMA, “but that’s slow in coming, too,” he said. “We’re trying to figure out what they need, where they need it. I think they’re still trying to do their own assessment.”

“We’re waiting to hear from the (Florida) emergency management agency about what they need, as far as units and where, and size requirements that they might need,” Kelly said.

“We’ve already talked with the state agency months ago regarding just this kind of situation. We’ve alerted our bigger dealers that have product that they can pull from all over the country and put them on notice that we might be notifying them.” Kelly told RVBusiness on Friday. “It takes a lot of coordination. There are so many different organizations working and trying to coordinate with the state and who needs what at what location, and it takes a few days to figure out where we can even bring stuff in at this point,” he said.

Some areas already are designated as emergency preparedness areas where RVs can be placed to house people left homeless by the storm as well as emergency personnel and power grid workers coming into the state.

In the past, during Hurricane Charlie for example, FEMA has leased vacant farm grounds to create temporary parks for this purpose.

David Basler

David Basler, senior vice president of membership and marketing for National Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds (ARVC) told RVBusiness today that, “Everything, including RV parks and campgrounds from Naples to Tampa were severely impacted. Communications are still down in a wide area, with phone lines down and electricity not scheduled to be back on for another few days (Lee County by Oct. 5) to a week or more (Sarasota and Charlotte Counties by Oct. 9).”

He said utilities are making big strides forward with 16,000 line workers from different states who have come in to assist along with the National Guard providing assistance in the area as well.

“RV parks and campgrounds in the immediate surrounding areas are reporting less damage,” he added, noting, “Parks in the interior of the state, including the Orlando area, as well as parks in the far northern and far southern parts of the state, are reporting minimal damage.”

He said affected parks can apply to the ARVC Foundation Disaster Relief Fund as a way of getting back on track. The link to apply for funds is https://arvc.org/sites/default/files/2021-07/2021-DisasterReliefApplication-FILLABLE.pdf

Anyone can donate to the ARVC Foundation Disaster Relief Fund by following this link: https://arvc.org/ARVC-Foundation-Disaster-Relief

Parks in Florida in needs of assistance from National ARVC, should contact Jeremy Carr directly at [email protected].

Bobby Cornwell

Cornwell told RVBusiness this morning (Oct. 3) that would-be campers should not be concerned that the whole state has been affected or that there are no sites available. He also stressed that gasoline is not in short supply.

“We’ve had campers contact us saying they had heard there was no gas anywhere.” Cornwell said. “Well, that’s not true at all. That’s not to say that in the hard hit areas there are no problems, obviously there, is but beyond that, everything is good for camping in Florida.”

Cornwell said approximately 20 member parks are closed because of storm damage. FRVCA’s membership totals more than 400 parks and there are a total of between 600 and 700 RV and mobile home parks throughout the state.

Some parks in the Fort Myers Beach area completely devastated, including the historic Red Coconut RV Park on Estero Boulevard and San Carlos RV Park and Islands on San Carlos Boulevard.

“It’s gone. It’s devastated,” Cornwell said of Red Coconut.

He pointed out that the FRVCA’s Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/campflorida – is a good resource for those seeking information on the status of parks or how to donate to the Florida Campground Association Disaster Relief Fund. He added that all updates that his organization receives will be posted there. Park owners in the affected area also have been posting updates on that page.

Posts on the Facebook page show that a GoFundMe.com page has been set up here to help offset the cost of damage at Red Coconut. Also, operators of San Carlos provided an update this morning:

“Hello to everyone from Carolyn. My brothers and myself are all just fine. We sure do appreciate all the kind messages and emotional support as this has been very traumatic! As soon as possible we will start calling all who have reservations and/or questions, but right now we don’t have a computer or electric. We have hired a company to do the demolition of all buildings. After the debris is cleared we will start our comeback! Be assured that we will come back from this. We have a plan and our goal right now is to be in business by January 1st. We hope this will happen much sooner, but there’s no way to know when power will be restored. We are so thankful that we have the ability to rebuild. Our hearts ache for all those who aren’t so fortunate. They are the ones in my prayers!  We will keep you informed as best we can. Our customers have always been our priority and you are now as well!”

While FRVCA’s initial role is the coordinate and gather information, Cornwell said that will be expanded after the fact.

“Right now we’re in the state of reaching out to members and finding out who’s affected, who’s shut down, who has power and who doesn’t and who has sites available in surrounding areas because we get calls now from RVers and campers who are needing places to stay,” he said. “Also emergency workers, and disaster relief efforts. We work in combination with them to find temporary housing for people who are displaced. That’s a big part of what we do.”
But looking ahead, Cornwell noted the FRVCA will work to ensure RV parks damage by Ian will be able to rebuild.

“Four years ago, we passed legislation that in situations like this where RV parks need to rebuild, they are able to do so, first of all, without a change of land use and are able to build to the original density at the time they were originally constructed,” he explained. “Unfortunately, it’s going to come into play … because what happens during these times is the local government can come in and say, ‘Well, we’re no longer going to permit this for an RV park.’ So we passed legislation forbidding local governments to do that and giving the park operator to rebuild to the original density. That’s going to be huge down the road.”

Source: https://rvbusiness.com/rv-camping-organizations-continue-relief-efforts-in-florida/