Utah American Red Cross volunteer describes devastation, need in areas hit by Hurricane Helene

MURRAY — Utahns on the ground in states hit hard by Hurricane Helene describe how bad the storm was for locals. 

Benjamin Donner, executive director of the American Red Cross Central and Southern Utah Chapter said initial reports show Hurricane Helene was highly destructive. 

“Red Cross estimates that Hurricane Helene likely destroyed up to 10,000-plus homes based on this initial assessment,” Donner said. “More than 1,000 missing persons report filed just in one county in North Carolina.” 

Utahns dispatched

He said the eight Utahns dispatched to North Carolina, Florida and Georgia are currently focused on providing safe shelter spaces. 

“That concern, that anxiety of, what’s it going to look like when I get to go back? We do everything we can to provide that kind of calming hand on the shoulder, any information that comes in that we’re able to give them updates on those neighborhoods, etc,” Donner said. “Once it is safe and everyone is allowed to start going back into those areas, then at that point we begin assisting with the damage assessment.” 

Volunteer Kirsti Dunn from North Ogden was in a shelter in Madison, Florida outside of Tallahassee when the storm hit. 

“We had maybe 200 clients here, and what we were doing is, everyone was in their room and sound asleep and then the loudspeaker came over just because of the storm’s ferocity that we needed to get everybody out into the hallways,” she said. 

Been through it before

Dunn said some of the roofing came off of the school they’re in and power lines fell. She’s in an area that’s been hit before. 

“We have a client here who has a baby, she and her husband are here with a baby who’s about a month, month-and-a-half old, and that baby has now been through Hurricane Debbie. And now Hurricane Helene,” she said. 

Dunn said the family gave her some reassuring feedback. 

“They said that after their first trip here, which was Hurricane Debbie, that the Red Cross really, one, it gave them a safe place to be, but then it also gave them some ideas on how to prepare,” 

Dunn said, “For instance, if you’re going to be going, if a storm’s coming up and you need to go to a shelter, what should you take with you?” 

She spends her days helping care for the families at that shelter, many with young children. 

“One of the sheriffs that brought through one of their canines today, which is just adorable little 17-month-old pup,” she said. 

Providing information

They also had a wing dedicated to treating people with more serious injuries. The shelter has a space where people’s pets are kept securely. 

She said what many of these people will face in the daylight is hard to come to terms with. 

“You want to make sure that the kids are good because they’ve been through trauma,” Dunn said. 

Volunteers like Dunn help individuals connect with resources and get updated information. She said her deployment will last around two weeks, longer if needs still to be met, and shorter if all of the clients at her assigned shelter are able to go home. 

‘Ready to respond’

Donner said he was just asked to dispatch Utah’s emergency response vehicles to the southeast.

“When the situation is greater than the resources that they have there, that call goes out across the country and here in Utah we’re ready to respond and we’ll be taking those to assist in those to assist in that fleet of mobile response units to go out into those neighborhoods,” he said. 

In the coming days, they’ll be loading them up with clean-up, hygiene and comfort kits and heading across the country where conditions feel like a nightmare for many. 

He also noted, all of the blood drives in the impacted areas are closed so giving blood, especially when you’re not able to volunteer, can be helpful. 

“We have an app that you can download, both Android and iPhone that will show where are the closest blood drives happening right now here in our own communities,” Donner said. “Let’s go help in that way, and we are prepared and ready to send some of that that is needed, after we obviously meet the need here locally, which we are very good at.” 

You can visit Redcross.org/help or Redcross.org to see updates on what work crews are doing, and find  volunteer opportunities.