Hurricane Ian: Volunteers help Ken Knight Drive neighbors on Jacksonville's Northside

Steve Patterson, Florida Times-Union
·2 min read
Ken Knight Drive resident Tyrone Harden lugs sandbags being delivered to help the Northside Jacksonville neighborhood prepare for Hurricane Ian's effects.
Ken Knight Drive resident Tyrone Harden lugs sandbags being delivered to help the Northside Jacksonville neighborhood prepare for Hurricane Ian's effects.

Neighbors and volunteers went door-to-door distributing sandbags along Jacksonville’s flood-prone Ken Knight Drive as preparations for Hurricane Ian accelerated Wednesday.

“This is the first help here we’ve got,” said Alton Gordon, a nearly lifelong resident and self-described mayor of the street in the Washington Heights area by the Northside’s Ribault River. He said about 600 bags were being filled and handed out.

Largely through social media, local artist Hope McMath organized about 50 people who filled 200 bags Tuesday at a landscape supply business on North Main Street and delivered those while filling more on Wednesday.

Bags were distributed 12 per home on the blocks where Gordon, 57, recalled piloting his rowboat to reach people trapped by floodwaters after Hurricane Irma in 2017.

Springfield resident Jamie Lepp, left, ties sandbags alongside Kim Pryor as Earth Source employee Robert Cumberland helps move bags Wednesday at the landscape supply company's operation on North Main Street in Jacksonville. Earth Source was donating free fill sand as thousands across the region braced for Hurricane Ian. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union]

That was meant to be enough to block water at a front and back door, but it’s hard to know what will really be needed.

During Irma, water stood waist-deep on the river side of Ken Knight Drive North and maybe 18 inches deep across the street, said Tyrone Harden, 35, who carried bags to his neighbor’s house after getting some for himself.

Program to demolish older homes on Ken Knight Drive met with criticism

The city unveiled a $5 million flood-prevention program in 2020 to buy and demolish some of the low-cost neighborhood’s small 1960s-vintage homes. Harden said he’s seen several homes torn down since then but he’s no fan, saying demolition won’t benefit existing residents and that he doesn’t want lots resold to allow bigger, more expensive new homes.

Hope McMath carries fresh produce that was distributed alongside sandbags on Ken Knight Drive North Wednesday as Jacksonville residents prepared for Hurricane Ian to impact the area,
Hope McMath carries fresh produce that was distributed alongside sandbags on Ken Knight Drive North Wednesday as Jacksonville residents prepared for Hurricane Ian to impact the area,

McMath said at least one home that received sandbags Wednesday had been repaired with some financial aid from the city, not demolished. That had been a difficult process, McMath said, saying the owner waited years for help with a floor she described as “falling in.”

Even if the neighborhood doesn’t flood, Wilbur Sandlin III said the hurricane could wreak havoc on his rented home, where a blue tarp covers a roof where Sandlin said water has poured in since July. Sandlin, 52, said his landlord finally arranged for some repairs, but that plan quickly derailed.

Barry Wilson leaves sandbags stacked outside the fence of a home on Jacksonville's Ken Knight Drive North as volunteers and residents on Wednesday helped the area prepare for Hurricane Ian's impacts.
Barry Wilson leaves sandbags stacked outside the fence of a home on Jacksonville's Ken Knight Drive North as volunteers and residents on Wednesday helped the area prepare for Hurricane Ian's impacts.

A notice attached to a fence outside the home on Wrico Drive said the city ordered work to stop last week, because no one had taken out a building permit.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Hurricane Ian: Sandbags used to shield Jacksonville's Ken Knight Drive