Communication Partner Update - Spring Storm Season…
It has been a while since I have seen so many active disaster relief efforts spread from coast to coast
17 Active Disaster Relief Efforts and more than 40 shelters open
Roughly 1300 trained Red Cross Workers assigned today. In aggregate we have deployed roughly 40% more people this year than the same period last year - (Around 6,000) - so we are having a very active season indeed.
Across these disasters we have done detailed damage assessment already where more than 3500 homes have been assessed as major damage / destroyed.
In those 41 shelters we are supporting more than 1000 people, and some of them have been in those shelters for more than 30 days.
Arkansas
Last Weekend an additional round of severe storms tore through the heartland killing 32 and injuring hundreds. Operations have been established in Indiana, Iowa, Tennessee and Arkansas. The center of gravity is in Little Rock, Arkansas where an EF 3 tornado cut a 600-yard wide and 32-mile-long trail through the city. We established DR 243-23, which is now a Level 5 disaster relief operation. Our teams were out throughout this week feeding, distributing emergency supplies, supporting shelters, and initiating damage assessment. We believe the tornado destroyed an additional 800-1000 homes. We will know more as Damage Assessment proceeds.
Joe Doffing from my Montgomery County team drove an Emergency Response Vehicle to Little Rock, and sent back this damage shot from his deployment. He also reported that Salvation Army was doing an incredible job at feeding in Little Rock.
Mississippi
Last week in Mississippi, the Red Cross moved to recovery by launching an Immediate Assistance program across 8 locations with the goal of delivering much-needed financial assistance to over 800 households whose homes were destroyed or suffered major tornado damage. The Red Cross team in Mississippi is working along side a pretty enthusiastic local response. The Feeding team has provided over 30,000 meals. And we supplied more than 4,000 households with a wide range of emergency supplies, including shovels, rakes, trash bags, diapers, phone chargers, and hygiene kits…
Disaster Emergency Supplies - Mississippi
I was moved by this video of a family assisted in Mississippi https://vimeo.com/814837397
California
Cathy Homer from San Jacinto County, TX is working at a shelter in California this holiday weekend. She sent back some photos of her team and the work they are doing. The flooding there has been devastating, and has been driven by what appears to be an endless set of atmospheric rivers.
I am not sure what our total of Texas Red Crossers are in the 1300 deployed currently, but I know that the number from Texas Gulf Coast Region is 26 on National Deployments. We had a brief hold on deployments based on our recent weather, but we are opening that up again next week.
This is a great time to stay weather aware. Know what to do when storms are severe.
Best
Kevin KF5FUZ
Sam Houston Territory
Texas Gulf Coast Region
American Red Cross.