ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Lehigh Valley Red Cross volunteers are in Florida assisting with Hurricane Helene relief efforts in the wake of a storm that wreaked havoc across the South.
"It just looks really sad,” said Peter Brown, executive director of the Red Cross Pennsylvania Rivers Chapter, which covers the Lehigh Valley. The American Red Cross has a disaster relief operation underway, covering a little less than half of Florida.
Hurricane Helene hit Florida on Thursday as a Category 4 storm and worked its way inland through Georgia, the Carolinas and Tennessee, flooding homes, leveling towns and leaving a path of destruction.
Brown is in the Tampa Bay area working as an elected official liaison and talking with leaders on the local, state, and federal levels about the cleanup and relief efforts.
“There's a ton of landscape damage everywhere, uprooted trees and lots of limbs, and down here in Florida, just a lot of palm fronds that are kind of all over the place."Peter Brown, American Red Cross
“There's a ton of landscape damage everywhere, uprooted trees and lots of limbs, and down here in Florida, just a lot of palm fronds that are kind of all over the place, but when you drive through a lot of the neighborhoods you're just seeing huge piles of furniture and bedding, electronic devices,” Brown said.
Devastating storm surge
He said there are reports of nearly 20,000 homes with at least three feet of water.
"It looks different than some of the other hurricanes I've deployed to because this area was really impacted the most by storm surge,” he explained. “That basically means a wall of water in some places around Tampa Bay, as high as 8-feet tall, comes inland because of the wind force from the hurricane, and then it hits everything in its path two times.”
He said the pulling effect from the water receding causes a second wave of damage. He added that some of the destruction is still happening even though the storm passed days ago.
“You have to remember that this water is salt water, so it immediately starts to corrode all the electrical systems in your home if your home gets flooded,” he said. "The other thing you don't really think about is when all that water comes in, it leaves sand.
"So, there were some streets that were so packed with sand that you couldn't tell there were cars underneath parked on the street."
How to help
The Red Cross operation is headquartered in Tallahassee, with a hub in Tampa Bay. The efforts there have about 600 Red Cross volunteers assisting, but more are needed, — not only in Florida, but neighboring states as well, Brown said.
"Hurricane Helene's damage is really unprecedented. We currently have 15 different operations open in 10 states, — all related to Hurricane Helene,” Brown said. "We are actively recruiting our own existing volunteers and asking them to consider deploying, but we are also looking for individuals from Pennsylvania who want to come down and help.”
Those interested in volunteering can go to the Red Cross website for more information. Training is provided and all expenses are covered.
In addition to volunteers, The American Red Cross is also in need of financial support, which can be donated through Redcross.org/donate
