Friday, September 22, 2017 – In the last month, the American Red Cross has launched a wide-ranging relief effort to help people devastated by three historic, back-to-back hurricanes – Harvey, Irma, and Maria. The Red Cross is part of a large team of agencies and organizations responding to provide help to communities turned upside down by these three category 4 storms.
From here in the Colorado & Wyoming region, there are now more than 150 local volunteers deployed to support the multiple operations across the country. At this time we will no longer be posting the names of every volunteer to the blog updates as the list has become impressively long. We thank them for their service and willingness to leave the comforts of home to respond to this unprecedented need. We are also thankful to all our volunteers who make it possible for us to continue providing service here at home as we respond to the daily call fro help from home fires.
See the most current video update from Puerto Rico here.
———————————————————————————————————————–Wednesday, September 6, 2017 – Hurricane Irma continues to move toward Florida with landfall on Sunday, according to the National Hurricane Center. The Red Cross has already mobilized equipment, supplies and disaster responders at a staging area in Orlando, FL.
 |
| Noon MDT 090617 from NOAA/National Hurricane Center |
While nearly 70 disaster responders from Colorado and Wyoming have been deployed to the Texas Gulf Coast for Hurricane Harvey Relief, we have also deployed ten of our disaster responders to the Orlando staging area ahead of Hurricane Irma landfall. The Red Cross is mobilizing hundreds of trained Red Cross disaster relief workers and deploying truckloads of relief supplies to support this response effort. Shelter supplies for 120,000 people are on the way to help people impacted with Irma, along with 100,000 shelf-stable meals and almost 80 emergency response vehicles.
In addition to those listed below the following volunteers are heading to Florida:
From Southeastern Colorado
Keith Mercantel – Shelter Supervisor
Gregory Adkins – Shelter Worker
Cathleen Smith – Shelter Worker
John Hartling – Shelter Worker
From Northern Colorado
Sierra Horner – Shelter Worker
Christy Lard – Shelter Worker
Donald Nelson – Shelter Worker
The Red Cross depends on financial donations to be able to provide disaster relief immediately. Help people affected by Hurricane Irma by visiting redcross.org, calling 1- 800-RED CROSS or texting the word IRMA to 90999 to make a $10 donation. Donations enable the Red Cross to prepare for, respond to and help people recover from this disaster. The Red Cross honors donor intent. Donors can designate their donation to Hurricane Irma relief efforts by choosing that option when donating on redcross.org or on 1-800-RED CROSS. The best way to ensure your donation will go to a specific disaster is to write the specific disaster name in the memo line of a check. We also recommend completing and mailing the donation form on redcross.org with your check
If you have people in Florida that you are concerned about you can advise them to download the Red Cross mobile app, Emergency. Using the app can help you stay in contact with those people in Florida. You can also get near realtime information concerning the Hurricane by using the free Emergency app. The Emergency App is available in app stores by searching for the American Red Cross or going to redcross.org/apps.
To get updates on Hurricane Irma and the Red Cross response visit www.redcross.org.
———————————————————————————————————-
Tuesday, September 5, 2017 – Even while our disaster response is in full swing in Texas with over 3,000 responders on the ground in the disaster zone, our teams are gearing up to support relief efforts, should they be needed with Hurricane Irma.
 |
| Hurricane Irma forecast track from Sep 5, 2017 Courtesy NOAA/NHC |
Hurricane Irma went up to a category 5 hurricane Sunday night and most recent forecasts have the
storm moving across the Florida Keys this weekend. Our disaster responders are already being put on standby so that they are ready to move quickly if the forecast track proves true.
Four disaster responders from Colorado are packing bags for deployment. They will travel to Orlando that is serving as a staging area for Red Cross deployments:
Southeastern Colorado
Douglas Van Allen – Sheltering Supervisor
Delbert Hayden – Shelter worker
Northern Colorado
David West – Shelter worker
Western Colorado
Jenny Roberts – Shelter worker