Local Red Cross Volunteers In Carolinas Peel Off To Help Hurricane Michael Victims

By Holliday Moore
Published: Thursday, October 11, 2018 - 11:20am

After spending the past six weeks helping residents recover from Hurricane Florence in the Carolinas, several volunteers with the Greater Phoenix Red Cross team diverted south to Florida hours after Hurricane Michael hit.

As Wednesday's category four hurricane made landfall near Pensacola, the National Weather Service was tracking two more hurricanes out in the Atlantic.

"It's very reminiscent of last year," said Colin Williams with the local Red Cross chapter, "when Hurricane Harvey, Irma and Maria all lined up together."

His chapter will focus on feeding and housing displaced residents and offering emotional support as people return to the wreckage.

"These disasters really take their toll on people mentally," Collins said referring to the residents caught up in the natural disasters, "If you leave your home and you come back to it in a state of ruins, that really puts people in a state of shock."

Williams added that the possibility of another hurricane making landfall also takes its toll on the Red Cross and other U.S. relief agencies trying to help the wrecked communities.