After Beryl ripped through the Windward Islands and into the Gulf of Mexico, it made landfall on the U.S. shoreline in Texas as forecasters warned residents to evacuate before being hit by intense winds and potentially deadly storm surge.
Mercy Chefs is one of the groups that goes into disaster areas to serve meals and feed people, as rebuilding takes place and power grids are put back into operation.
Raymond LeBlanc, a community engagement manager for Mercy Chefs, says one of the biggest challenges after a disaster is power outages. It is in those critical hours and days that communities find themselves not able to refrigerate food or cook due to lack of power.
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LeBlanc says his organization has served about 10,000 meals in the first days after the storm as they base their operation out of Houston — with multiple locations — while some Gulf of Mexico communities in the U.S. recover after the storm amid intense summer heat. He said by the end of Thursday he expects Mercy Chefs to have served about 20,000 meals.
Since it started more than 18 years ago, the group has served over 25 million meals.
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Beryl came through in areas during summer when extensive heat waves brought brutal heat before and after the storm.
"Being able to see someone who has gone through the hardest day, and lost so much, and can't cool their home or prepare a meal for themselves — something special happens over that shared meal that we're able to give to these people," LeBlanc said.
Beryl hit the Windward Islands as it swept through the Caribbean as a Category 5 storm. Mercy Chefs is also serving meals in those areas to affected residents as they rebuild and get their power grids back up.
LeBlanc says teams have struggled to get supplies onto islands like Grenada because of significant damage to the infrastructure.
