How the Red Cross is preparing for Hurricane Helene

The American Red Cross is already on the ground in communities throughout the projected path of Hurricane Helene.

Transcript

00:00While Hurricane Helene gains strength in the Gulf, well, its path is going to bring significant

00:05impacts to several states. Now, the American Red Cross is preparing to help in all of these

00:10locations. Evan Peterson is the national spokesperson, and he joins us now. Good to

00:14see you again, Evan. Thanks for making time for us. Of course, this is a very important topic,

00:19and we want to make sure that everyone is prepared who is in the path of this storm.

00:23Absolutely, and I know that you're in Atlanta, a tropical storm warning in effect for you,

00:28but where are American Red Cross staffers and volunteers setting up to help the most,

00:32and where is the current focus for this storm? Well, I'll first say that because we are a

00:38national organization, the benefits of us having so many people at our disposal who want to get

00:43involved and want to help is that much of the area that you forecasted that this storm is going to be

00:48plowing over, we already have people there. We've been in these communities for many,

00:53many years, and when we saw this popping up on the radar, we immediately began conversations with

00:58not just our community partners and then, obviously, the residents of these towns,

01:03but also county emergency management officials, even state and even federal officials who want

01:08to know what we're doing. So right now, we have mobilized about 360 disaster-trained

01:14responders to go where the help is needed. Now, obviously, the message we're going to be telling

01:18people is going to vary depending on where they are as it relates to this storm moving in,

01:23but if this storm has not landed on your doorstep yet, we are telling you please be prepared.

01:28Start making plans now if you already haven't. Make sure you and your family are safe.

01:32Absolutely, and that is a key here. Safety is our first priority, and beyond that would be mitigating

01:38damage or loss to people's structures or properties. With the potential size and power of

01:43this hurricane, does that change any of your planned response compared to maybe a smaller storm?

01:50Whether it's a tropical storm or it's a Category 5 hurricane, every single disaster we take

01:55incredibly seriously, and we want people to know, again, that if you have not had this storm land

02:00on you just yet, please make sure you are taking the opportunity to make sure you've got a plan

02:06to evacuate if you need to and also understanding your routes. If you've got one route to get to

02:11an emergency shelter, make sure you've got a backup route in case roads start getting flooded

02:16or closed or blocked off for some reason. We'd also ask people to go to our emergency app.

02:22Just type in on Apple or Android devices, American Red Cross, and in this app we have helpful tips

02:27and information on how to build disaster preparedness kits, so if you need to evacuate,

02:32it'll tell you and walk you through step-by-step on what you need to bring for you and your family,

02:36or if you need to stay in shelter in place, how to do that, as well as finding shelters.

02:41We appreciate your time and all the efforts that you and others with the Red Cross,

02:45whether it's helping a family that may have lost their home or townhouse to a structure fire,

02:50to a large-scale event like a major hurricane. The American Red Cross does many good things,

02:55and again, you can donate to the cause there if you are so inclined. The American Red Cross

03:01by texting 90999. Thanks again. Evan Peterson there with the American Red Cross.

03:06All right. Thank you. Thank you. And we want to take a look at one slightly more short-term risk

03:11here that we're facing. We're going to zoom into the Florida Keys tornado warning in effect here

03:15for part of the Keys, a little bit east of Key West itself.