Stabilizing Recovery Efforts and Ongoing Relief

·         Overnight, nearly 2,000 people were still staying in more than 35 shelters across Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina.

o    At our shelters, disaster health volunteers are caring for minor injuries and replacing things like eyeglasses and medications and mental health volunteers are providing comfort to those affected.

·         Disaster kitchens are up and running, and nearly 150 Emergency Response Vehicles are on the road delivering those hot meals along with water and supplies to people struggling to clean up their homes.

o    With the help of partners, we’ve provided some 2.1 million meals and snacks, and some 95,000 relief items like cleaning and hygiene supplies for thousands of affected families across five states.

·         Where it is safe to do so, trained Red Cross damage assessment teams are working with partners to detail the scope of the destruction. This critical information will be used to make plans for what support — including financial assistance — families may need in the coming weeks and months.

o    More than 16,000 assessments have been completed to date, resulting in over 6,100 major damage or destroyed homes.

Florida

·         Among top priorities is continued support of shelters and individuals in our care who are still unable to return home – or no longer have a home to return to at all. Some 1,250 individuals sought refuge in one of 20 Red Cross and partner shelters last night.

o    Shelter Resident Transition (SRT) teams continue to meet with individuals and families to discuss short-term and long-term barriers to recovery. Housing and Transportation challenges are currently the most-cited barriers to overcome. Caseworkers will continue to work alongside these households, making connections to community partners, to explore solutions that help these families return home.

·         Red Cross Latino Engagement Teams (LETs) are working with other community partners – such as the Mexican Consulate, Catholic Charities of Palmetto, and Catholic Holy Cross Church in Palmetto to identify and support a community of Latino families with relief supplies, hot meals and assistance completing FEMA documentation. Elsewhere, in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties, large Latino communities had been displaced twice when their apartment building was deemed unlivable. Bilingual caseworkers were quickly on-site to support with resources and offer assistance, like shelter, food and medical care.

·         Other community outreach and engagement also continues, including mobile feeding routes, fixed-site food distribution locations, distribution of emergency supplies, Multi-Agency Resource Center participation, and detailed damage assessments.

o    Strategic community kitchens continue to provide thousands of meals each day to be delivered into communities still unable to cook for themselves due to social vulnerabilities or prolonged power outages.

o    Emergency Response Vehicles filled with warm meals and food boxes containing shelf-stable food options to support a family of four for up to five days are still mobilizing across the state.

o    Detailed damage assessment workers are also in these communities, going door-to-door to discuss storm-related impacts and needs. With this information, Red Cross will be able to make decisions on financial assistance programs that will help families make unique decisions for their household on their path to recovery.

·         In some mountain communities, significant number of households are staying on their properties next to their destroyed homes. To serve these otherwise isolated areas due to infrastructure damage, Red Cross teams are establishing fixed-site points of distribution with particular focus on Yancey, Mitchell, and McDowell counties.

o    At these sites, families will be able to access specialty and unique relief items that will allow them to stay in their mountain communities longer, even as the weather is beginning to change and temperatures drop. Some of these items include carbon monoxide detectors, camp stoves, sleeping bags, generators and much more.

·         Red Cross responders are also active, canvassing communities in Emergency Response Vehicles loaded with relief supplies and clean up kits. There are more than a dozen neighborhood routes across western North Carolina and South Carolina. These efforts will continue as more communities become increasingly more accessible.

·         Detailed damage assessments are underway for areas safe to access. Due to widespread infrastructure damage, this process could take 3-4 more weeks before a full picture of impact if realized, specifically in western North Carolina.

·         In these areas where recovery efforts remain a goal for the distant future, Red Cross teams are beginning to engage community recovery partners to establish Long-Term Recovery plans.

·         Designed as a community-facing institution, born out of a vision to bridge the gap between large institutions and local neighborhoods, the HUB provided a safe space where volunteers and community members of all ages, socioeconomic backgrounds and ethnicities felt welcomed.

·         Recognizing that many could not reach the HUB due to transportation issues or road closures due to fallen trees, they partnered with the Red Cross to deploy mobile units distributing essential items such as food, water, baby formula, diapers, toiletries and fresh produce directly to neighbors in need.

·         The HUB's innovative approach also extended to providing customized care packages of nutritious food for pregnant and postpartum mothers and signing up families for SNAP through the Augusta University Food is Medicine program. Additionally, a mobile wash center through the Salvation Army was available, helping restore dignity to those without water services by offering shower and free laundry services. In a powerful display of community care, organizers helped coordinate temporary housing for displaced families, while volunteer medical professionals offered critical health services on-site.

·         The success of this relief effort offers a powerful model for community engagement and disaster response. It demonstrates the impact of community organizations combining their resources to swiftly and effectively meet the immediate needs of their communities.

·         Due to the wide path of destruction left behind by Hurricane Helene, all hands-on deck were required to gather data in affected areas.

·         Red Crossers closed their laptops, put on their hiking boots and red vests and went out into impacted communities to get a first-hand account of the damage.

·         Damage Assessment is a vital yet lesser-known service of the Red Cross. When disasters strike, our trained volunteers swiftly enter affected neighborhoods and communities, as soon as it is safe to do so, to evaluate the damage using photos, specialized smartphone apps and GPS technology.