American Red Cross volunteers in Connecticut are getting ready for deployment. This time, their mission is focused specifically on Florida.
“Those volunteers will be sent out to Orlando or Tallahassee or some place in the impact zone to get ready for evacuations, shelters first and foremost and then transition into longer term shelter if needed,” American Red Cross CEO of the Connecticut & Rhode Island Region Richard Branigan said.
Florida is preparing for Hurricane Milton to make landfall on Wednesday. Kimberly Inglis, a former Florida resident, now living in Meriden, said she knows the storm dangers all too well.
“You are still talking about sustained winds of 140 miles an hour, maybe a little bit less and that is scary.” Kimberly Inglis said.
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Inglis is concerned about friends and her mom who lives in Sarasota and is not evacuating her home.
“Sometimes things happen weather wise that you do not plan for or expect so I am a little bit concerned,” Inglis said. “I am concerned for everybody, not just her, concerned for everybody.”
Branigan said people living on the gulf coast are still recovering not just from Hurricane Helene, but from the previous hurricane season.
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“We have folks in Florida where Milton is heading next that have never left the shelter from last year’s sequence of hurricanes,” Branigan said.
During Helene, it is estimated the Red Cross lost upwards of 2,500 units of blood. The organization is looking for volunteers to roll up their sleeves or to help on the ground when disaster strikes.
“We need to have a pipeline of volunteers that are coming in, that are getting trained, that are able to deliver our life saving mission,” Branigan said.
Information on how you can volunteer is here.
