The anger, Mr. Soto said, “could have huge repercussions.” “You just don’t attack people when they are down,” he added. “These are things people will remember.”

While Democrats see enormous potential for registering new voters, they know their efforts must wait until the newcomers’ urgent need for housing, jobs, schools and medical care is met. Central Florida will be a magnet for many of the migrants who will join families here in Orlando and in neighboring communities like Kissimmee. They will see signs of home in the grocery stores, shops and churches in an area where the Latino influence is abundantly evident.

In a ballroom of a Puerto Rican service organization here this week, a dozen men and women, including activists, a lawyer, an Orange County commissioner, a police officer and a psychotherapist, said the storm had brought the community together like never before.

“Now we see the necessity to come out and organize,” said Trini Quiroz, one of the activists. “So this tragedy brought us all together.”

Under the umbrella of an organization called CASA, 14 different groups have banded together to help provide relief for hurricane victims, from collecting and delivering supplies to Puerto Rico to helping build a resettlement effort in Central Florida.

Emily Bonilla, a Democratic county commissioner who was elected from a district that is 80 percent white, is working to provide services for the new arrivals, mindful that they may soon be her constituents. “Puerto Ricans are unique,” she said. “We support each other regardless of party, but no surprise, the majority become Democrats.”