FLORIDA, USA — All eyes have been turned to the tropics this week as Hurricane Helene inches toward Florida’s Gulf Coast.
Crews from the American Red Cross have been deployed from all across the country over the past couple of days to assist with storm preparations and soon enough, recovery efforts.
16 Red Cross crewmembers from the Michigan workforce were sent to help with the impacts of Hurricane Helene.
Red Cross Hurricane Helene
“We've been mobilizing for the last three days, mobilizing a group by specialty to go and support what we call pre-landfall activities,” said LaToysa Rooks, the regional disaster officer for the state of Michigan. “So that's our sheltering, getting our feeding plans ready.”
Crewmembers commit to a minimum of two weeks to travel and help with major disasters like what we’ll be seeing with Hurricane Helene - and help will certainly be needed.
Helene could bring storm surge upwards of 20 feet along the Gulf Coast and more than a foot of rainfall across much of the southeastern US.
“We've got more than one state, so it could be hundreds of thousands of people who are impacted and who need our support,” Rooks told 13 ON YOUR SIDE.
As of 6:20 PM EDT Thursday, Helene was upgraded to a category 4 hurricane and is expected to make landfall as a category 4 hurricane in Florida’s Big Bend on Thursday around 11:00 PM EDT.
Tropical storm force winds, life-threatening storm surge, and flash flooding will plague those within the storm’s path into this weekend.
You can track Hurricane Helene using this interactive tracker here.