116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Home / Living / People & Places
By the numbers: Iowa Red Cross volunteers respond to disasters in Texas, Florida
Michaela Ramm
Sep. 8, 2017 8:49 pm, Updated: Sep. 9, 2017 6:07 pm
As Texas begins the long road to recovery and Florida braces for impact, relief organizations from around the country are descending into affected areas.
The Red Cross sent more than 3,500 volunteers this week into Texas after Hurricane-turned-Tropical Storm Harvey devastated Houston and surrounding areas, as well as into Florida, preparing for the worst once Hurricane Irma makes landfall Sunday.
Iowans are among the volunteers. Here the current figures on Iowans deployed by the Red Cross to these two states, as of Friday.
Texas
' 50 volunteers
' 4 volunteers returned to Iowa
' 3 staff members
' 6 emergency response vehicles
The Red Cross saw more than 16,000 people in 90 Red Cross shelters and partner facilities across Texas Thursday night, according to a news release from the organization.
Emergency shelters in Louisiana also took in about 135 people Thursday night.
Florida
' 5 volunteers
' 3 staff members
These volunteers and staff members are on standby, waiting for the hurricane to make landfall to determine where help is needed. The Red Cross officials said the organization is mobilizing hundreds of disaster relief workers and supplies.
On the U.S. Virgin Islands, where Irma hit Wednesday, almost 300 people spent Wednesday night in six shelters.
l Comments: (319) 368-8536; michaela.ramm@thegazette.com
Michael Gee, left, from Iowa City, is working to set up a Red Cross command Center in Austin, Texas, to shelter those displaced by now Tropical Storm Harvey. Photo courtesy of Michael Gee