JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Thousands are still without homes and hundreds have yet to be found one month since Hurricane Dorian hit the Bahamas.
Action News Jax spoke exclusively with a local pastor who just came back from the Bahamas to find out the biggest needs for those hit hardest.
"In order to really know how to get the goods and services to the folks that need it most, you have to be on the ground," explains John Allen Newman, senior pastor at The Sanctuary at Mount Calvary in Jacksonville.
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Newman set out to do just that with the Progressive National Baptist Convention Disaster Relief Team.
Still, he says, nothing could have prepared him for what he was about to experience when his team touched down in Freeport and Abaco.
"The devastation was just beyond description, homes leveled, clothes and debris all over the place. We went to an area where we could literally smell bodies," Newman said.
There were miles of destruction with not one home upright in sight. And there were hundreds of families without a roof over their heads, power or clean running water to use.
"They use water that supposed to be for drinking, then they use that to wash off after bathing in water that's high in salt content."
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Newman said some are so desperate for shelter that they're trying to figure out how to make a home out of shipwrecked barges that are now stuck on land.
And despite the countless donations, Newman says there's still a need to get supplies to the people who need it most, so they're working with local churches within their congregation to get to those people.
"We're not just going to be serving our churches, they're going to be basically designated spots for the communities to come out and receive goods, not just the congregations," Newman said.
The trips that will continue until the people who need food, water and electricity get it.
"It's going to take time and this is not a sprint. This is a marathon," Newman said.
Newman says it will probably take years for the islands to recover and for the families with nothing, it could take months until they get back on their feet.
PNBC is collecting donations. For their donations for more information, go to pnbc.org.