WASHINGTON — First, disaster struck in Texas with Hurricane Harvey, and now Hurricane Irma strikes in Florida.
But even in the face of both of these disasters, the Red Cross is prepared.
“For the Red Cross, again, we started hurricane season planning that there could be multiple strikes,” said Paul Carden, American Red Cross National Capital Region disaster program officer.
He says they didn’t commit all of their assets to Texas.
“That left us some vehicles, volunteers, supplies to send into the southeast,” he said.
And even as the Red Cross deploys assets to the southeast, Carden said they have a reserve of resources in case there’s a third hurricane.
He said six Red Cross volunteers from the D.C. area are in Florida and are helping set up shelters. One volunteer is working in a shelter with 1,700 people.
Carden said the Red Cross has set up more than 500 shelters in the southeast part of the U.S., Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. A total of 132,000 people are in Red Cross or Red Cross partner shelters throughout the United States, he says.
“So, we’ve got that large sheltering response going on,” said Carden. “We should have enough assets to shelter about 170,000 folks at the end of the resource push.”
The Red Cross has 100 emergency response vehicles in the southeast that are ready to go out into communities impacted by Irma to deliver relief supplies and hot meals as soon as it is safe to do so.
“So we’re opening shelters … We’re getting resources going in. We’re also staging resources around the southeast to actually move in to where the impact is,” he said.
But Carden says that during this time of double disasters, the Red Cross is counting on the American people.
“We’re working in Texas. We’re committed to meeting the needs of the folks in Texas, and we know that the American public is going to trust us to get the job done in the southeast. So, we need their continued financial support.”
