WASHINGTON — Hurricane Matthew is poised to wallop the country’s Southeast coast, and representatives of the D.C.-area’s chapter of the American Red Cross are on the ground Friday ready to help those impacted by the historic storm.
The Red Cross, National Capital Region will be sending relief operations along the East Coast as the Category 3 hurricane moves along the coastline, said its Regional Disaster Director Paul Carden. The Red Cross’ D.C.-area chapter has six volunteers and two staffers aiding with hurricane relief efforts as of Friday afternoon.
“We’re getting our local volunteers moving down there. We’re moving assets, we’re moving vehicles. So that’s a sprint. But we’re also gearing up to run a marathon of the long-term recovery process,” Carden said.
The local volunteers are heading to Florida, South Carolina and Georgia to assist in different capacities such as building shelters, distributing food and driving the emergency response vehicles, said Red Cross, National Capital Region Director of Communication Nathan DeVault. Local search and rescue teams are in the impacted region to offer assistance as well.
The Red Cross response to Hurricane Matthew will be more like that of Katrina in 2005 and Superstorm Sandy in 2012 because this storm is impacting multiple states, Carden said.
“The challenge is it’s not like a hurricane that goes right into a state and sort of fizzles out after it moves inland,” he said.
The Red Cross is still seeking volunteers to help with Hurricane Matthew relief, and will likely send another group of volunteers soon, DeVault said.
If you’re not able to donate your time, the Red Cross is accepting monetary donations through its website, by calling 1-800-RED CROSS or texting the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation.
“We have a need for more volunteers and raising funds is critical, so every dollar we raise is money for a meal or a bottle of water or a blanket,” DeVault said.
Also, the hurricane forced the Red Cross to cancel some blood drives, “so we are encouraging people to donate blood,” DeVault added.
WTOP’s Kathy Stewart contributed to this report.
