Red Cross Ready to Respond in Florida

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 05 Sep 2004 - 0:00 PDT

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Streets that should have been carrying families to holiday outings along Florida's east coast looked like ghost towns. Residents left in droves, trying to get out of Dodge as the showdown with Hurricane Frances drew near.

Two and a half million people were expected to be displaced, kicking the debris left by last month's Hurricane Charley out of the way as they packed their cars and headed for higher ground. For American Red Cross chapters across the state, however, the scramble was to find places to accomodate the fleeing masses.

Although Red Cross offices in Daytona Beach were forced to board up, the lifesaving work of volunteers and employees continued behind the scenes. Arrangements to support Volusha County's 29 shelters were being coordinated by chapter staff from cell phones across the area. The next 72-hours will be tense for everyone, but more so for those who are uprepared. A recent American Red Cross poll tells us only about 60 percent are prepared for emergencies like the one Hurricane Frances poses. That complicates the already challenging job of housing and feeding the more than thirty thousand individuals who found safe harbor in Florida Red Cross shelters beginning Thursday night.

While most Floridians evacuated to the north, some, like Melbourne's Ron Martin, were preparing to help those who remained. "This will be my turn," he said with a smile as he hung up the phone in the Melbourne Red Cross chapter. Martin was checking up on his wife who was at home nearby. From the chapter he would go to Manatee Elementary to check that preparations were going smoothly and to post signs that noted its transformation into a Red Cross shelter. This would be the school's second incarnation as a shelter in less than three weeks. The Red Cross will be housing some of the same people who fled Hurricane Charley three weeks ago.

Martin is just one of hundreds of Red Cross volunteers called into action and his skills have been in hot demand at the Melbourne County Emergency Operations Center where he helps coordinate relief efforts with Emergency Managers for the area. "It helps take some of the pressure off the (Red Cross) directors," he said. "They've got a lot on their hands."

Though a Category 2 hurricane, down from a Category 4, Hurricane Frances is a massive storm twice the size of Hurricane Andrew in 1992. The American Red Cross is planning a larger relief operation than the one it conducted after Hurricane Andrew, when it spent $81 million.

But committed volunteers like Martin know it takes more than good will to fund this massive relief effort. He's counting on Americans to reach into their hard-earned dollars this labor day to help fund this relief operation. "These poeple have to have someplace to go."

You can help the victims of these storms, floods and thousands of other disasters across the country each year by making a financial gift to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, which enables the Red Cross to provide shelter, food, counseling and other assistance to those in need. Call 1-800-HELP NOW or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish). Contributions to the Disaster Relief Fund may be sent to your local American Red Cross chapter or to the American Red Cross, P. O. Box 37243, Washington, DC 20013.

Internet users can make a secure online contribution by visiting our Online Donation Page.

http://www.redcross.org