The American Red Cross Rhode Island Chapter reports it is completing its final preparations for Hurricane Earl, due to hit the state tomorrow afternoon. “We’re ready for Earl!” said Bruce Rutter, CEO of the local chapter. Rutter’s staff has been working round the clock positioning trucks, trailers and supplies, calling up volunteers, and coordinating efforts with RIEMA and local EMA directors.
“I’m really pleased with the response we’ve had from our volunteers,” said Nick Logothets, the Chapter’s Emergency Services Director. “We have 367 people who’ve committed to manning shelters—that’s more than all the volunteers who came out for the spring floods!” The Chapter reports that EMA Directors in seven communities have asked the Red Cross to be ready to open shelters: Cranston, Middletown (including Newport), Narragansett, Portsmouth, South Kingstown, Tiverton and Westerly. Together, these shelters could hold more than 4,000 people. Additional shelters could be opened if needed. Locations of opening shelters will be released tomorrow, if the storm intensity warrants them.
“We think we can handle this on our own,” said Logothets. “Earl is not likely to swing so far west that we’ll be hit head-on.” During the spring floods, the Chapter asked the National Red Cross for assistance and received volunteers from as far away as Texas and Washington State. “They were some of the cream of the crop of Red Cross volunteers across the nation.” Added Rutter, “We hadn’t had a major incident here since Hurricane Bob in the early nineties, so they wanted to be sure, if things got really bad, we would have the expertise we needed. We had some issues with one shelter, but other than that, we came through with flying colors,” he said.
The storm track suggests the worst of the damage will be confined to communities along the south coast and Narragansett Bay. The Chapter has deployed its supply trailers and vehicles in these communities, and is expecting five national Emergency Response Vehicles (ERVs) to arrive from the Midwest this afternoon. Staff and volunteers will stock them with water and snacks for distribution, if needed, into neighborhoods with extended power loss.
If Earl tracks further east, and shelters are not needed here, 76 Rhode Island volunteers have said they’d be willing to deploy to Cape Cod, the Islands, or anywhere hit by the storm. “We call it mutual aid,“ said Logothets. “If they need help and we can spare them, we’re glad to send volunteers. All of the Chapters in the Northeast have offered to do the same for us, if needed.”
Regardless of Earl’s track, high winds (much of the state is expected to be hit by gusts and periods of sustained winds of 40+ MPH) will bring down branches and trees, leading to power outages. Because of this, the Red Cross urges every household to be prepared to survive at home for as much as three days—that means stocking water, flashlights, batteries, first aid kits, a battery or crank-powered radio and food that doesn’t require cooking.
Preparation for Hurricane Earl will cost the Chapter tens of thousands of dollars in staff time, volunteer training, food, supplies and gasoline for vehicles. And Earl is just one of hundreds of large disasters the American Red Cross will prepare for and respond to this year. To make a donation to help the Red Cross prepare for and respond to disasters—here in Rhode Island and across the country, call 1-800-Red Cross or visit www.redcross.org.
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