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The Latest: Steeple lost in Matthew replaced before Irma

Jone Yoon boards up his beach souvenir shop ahead of Hurricane Irma in Daytona Beach, Fla., Thursday, Sept. 7, 2017. South Florida officials are expanding evacuation orders as Hurricane Irma approaches, telling more than a half-million people to seek safety inland. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
Jone Yoon boards up his beach souvenir shop ahead of Hurricane Irma in Daytona Beach, Fla., Thursday, Sept. 7, 2017. South Florida officials are expanding evacuation orders as Hurricane Irma approaches, telling more than a half-million people to seek safety inland. (AP Photo/David Goldman) Jone Yoon boards up his beach souvenir shop ahead of Hurricane Irma in Daytona Beach, Fla., Thursday, Sept. 7, 2017. South Florida officials are expanding evacuation orders as Hurricane Irma approaches, telling more than a half-million people to seek safety inland. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

By Associated Press 1 min read

MIAMI (AP) – On Thursday afternoon the steeple was put in place on the Historic New Bethel A.M.E. Church in Ormond Beach, which is on Florida’s Atlantic Coast near Daytona Beach.

The steeple now has eight stainless steel rods to withstand 130 mph. Previously it had four rods, all of which were rusted through when Hurricane Matthew tore it off the roof last October.

Rev. Phyllis Rose Brown says the steeple will be tested again, but “if it will withstand the forces coming now, we know we’ve got a good steeple.”