How the Red Cross is preparing for Milton while still helping survivors of Helene

AccuWeather

The Red Cross is already on the ground, helping people who made it through Hurricane Helene, but now will have to face two crises with Milton on the way.

Transcript

00:00And as it gets closer to landfall,

00:02the American Red Cross is helping victims

00:04of Hurricane Helene recover,

00:07as well as preparing for Hurricane Milton.

00:09Annette Rowland of the American Red Cross

00:12joins us now from Birmingham, Alabama.

00:17Thank you so much, Annette, for joining us.

00:19Hey, thanks for having me.

00:21Now, Annette, getting right down to it,

00:23with Milton on the way, how does the Red Cross prepare

00:27and how do you mobilize while keeping your staff

00:30and volunteers safe before the storm?

00:34Yeah, you know, as the climate crisis,

00:36we're starting to see that continue,

00:38and so it's coming worse.

00:40We're having this extreme weather happening.

00:42So it's, unfortunately, it's common now

00:44that we are responding to multiple large disasters

00:48at the same time.

00:49So that's why we train year round with our partners,

00:53with our team, to make sure that we can respond

00:56to a disaster of any size.

00:58But it's also critical for us to make sure

01:00that we take those steps to have those resources

01:03in place before the storm hits,

01:05so that when it's time, we can quickly activate,

01:08quickly mobilize, and get people on the ground.

01:11Right now, there's more than 21,000 trained

01:14disaster workers, and many of those are volunteers,

01:1690% actually, who are helping with the response

01:21to Milton and Helene.

01:22Latrine.

01:23And you brought up just a great point there,

01:26when you're talking about we already have

01:30or need forces on the ground from Helene,

01:33and just kinda how you split those focuses here,

01:36now that we're forecasting for a powerful storm,

01:39Milton still strengthening, a Category 5 hurricane now,

01:44but still even a major hurricane at landfall.

01:47And since the possible landfall path for Milton

01:50is so large, how are you preparing

01:53for so many potential locations in Florida?

01:56Yeah, it's destruction, unfortunately,

01:59from Helene has covered a huge area.

02:02And like I said, we've got people on the ground,

02:05we've got thousands of Red Crossers who are on the ground,

02:07helping the communities, but we're also working

02:10really closely with our partners.

02:12That's local officials, government agencies,

02:14and other local nonprofits.

02:16We're working to help people still find

02:19some of their missing loved ones and reconnect them.

02:22We're making sure that people have that safe shelter

02:25that they need, and also providing meals and water

02:28and emergency relief supplies, like cleanup kits,

02:32and even replacing prescription medications

02:34and eyeglasses that people lost

02:36when unfortunately Helene swept through.

02:41Thank you so much for sharing what is needed in this time,

02:45and of course, how your organization works.

02:48Thank you so much, Annette Roland

02:49with the American Red Cross.

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