Middletown students aid relief team heading to Florida

MIDDLETOWN, Conn. (WFSB) - Students from one school in Middletown are partnering with a local disaster relief team to help aid Florida in their recovery from Hurricane Ian.

Students from Vinal Technical School are getting real-world experience by working with Connecticut’s Disaster Assistance team.

On Wednesday, students have been collecting information and putting it into an accident action plan which will assist the recovery mission in Florida.

Students say doing this type of work is rewarding.

“It feels really good when you’re helping people who help save lives and keep everyone safe,” says junior Adrian Diaz.

35 students were tasked with helping the team, which will free up three or four team members to focus on patient healthcare when they are in Florida.

“We have the extra manpower to help the people of Florida directly. It also keeps us safer. They tell us when a storm’s coming, if there’s lightning, when the power will be back on, if there’s looting in a neighborhood over,” says David Cruickshank and instructor at Vinal Tech.

The students are responsible for tracking the storm and providing daily intelligence briefings.

“We all really didn’t know each other but we’ve only spent two cycles together and we’re getting along well and working as a team very well and we all have each other’s backs,” says junior Eliz Rodriguez.

Students will be manning their stations late tonight and through the rest of Ian.

The Connecticut Disaster Assistance Team will fly down to Florida on a military aircraft. They say they will likely be in the Cape Coral area.

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