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.
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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.