$1.5 MILLION GRANT TO HELP PROTECT NOAH RESIDENTS FROM HURRICANE DAMAGE

NOAH will use a $1.5 million grant to provide hurricane protection to more than 200 apartments for residents at Covenant Villas in Belle Glade and South Bay Villas in South Bay.

NOAH is working with architects and construction engineers on a project to install high impact windows and doors throughout the two apartment complexes, said Thomas Roberts, NOAH’s Executive Director. He expects to have the project out to bid in the next month or so and the work to begin before the end of the 2009 hurricane season.

Protecting residents in the Glades has been a major priority ever since the notorious unnamed category 5 hurricane of 1928 killed an estimated 3,000 people, many of whom were living vulnerably in poorly constructed shanty homes around Lake Okeechobee. Damage to NOAH properties after Hurricane Wilma in 2005 was further indication of the need for additional protection for residents.

"We’re just looking forward to protecting our property and protecting our residents," Roberts said.

The grant comes from disaster relief funds made available by the federal government through the Department of Housing and Urban Development after Hurricane Katrina. Initially, NOAH planned to use the money to build new homes, but after an environmental report on land designated for new construction revealed problems, NOAH reworked its application for the money to shore up existing homes.

The money is being dispensed through Palm Beach County’s Department of Housing and Community Development, which administers programs that provide for the development and redevelopment of distressed areas, focusing on the needs of lower income residents.

The storm of 1928 remains one of the nation’s worst natural disasters and more than 2,000 Glades residents remain unidentified in mass graves in Port Mayaca and West Palm Beach. The official death toll from the hurricane remains at 1,836, but many experts, say it is much higher. Local expert Robert Mykle, author of Killer 'Cane: The Deadly Hurricane of 1928, says the toll probably exceeds 3,000. The high impact doors and windows to help withstand powerful hurricane winds are steps NOAH is taking to prevent such tragedies from happening in the future.

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