|
Red Cross Helps Cedar Rapids Flood Victims
As Veronica Johnson and others whose homes were flooded vow to clean out and rebuild, the Red Cross helps jump start this difficult process.
Allen Crabtree, Public Affairs Volunteer, Southern Maine Chapter, Portland ME
Wednesday, June 25, 2008 — The recent Midwest floods have devastated Cedar Rapids, Iowa, as thousands of residents were forced from their homes when the Cedar River overflowed its banks. Flood waters inundated the heart of the city’s business district and nearly 450 blocks of homes. The waters are now receding and residents are starting the slow, painful job of recovery as they are allowed back to their homes to begin cleanup. The American Red Cross is there with them, providing emergency disaster relief.
When residents returned to their homes in Cedar Rapids they found piles of furniture covered with mud from the flood waters. This home is across the road from Veronica Johnson’s mother’s home on 6th Avenue SW in Cedar Rapids.
Photo credit: Allen Crabtree, American Red Cross
Cedar Rapids, IA
|
In a continuation of Veronica Johnson’s story, she and several of her friends and family were able to drive to their homes on Tuesday morning for the first time after being evacuated. Debris from the flood lined the streets and there was a thick coating of black, viscous mud everywhere. Every home had a “scum line” that was dramatic evidence of the level that the flood waters had reached.
The “scum line” on Johnson’s mother’s home was about waist high. When Johnson pried open the front door she was greeted with a jumble of furniture that the flood waters had floated and piled on top of each other. An inch of wet mud coated the walls, the floors, and the piles of furniture. Everything smelled of river mud, garbage and sewage.
“This is terrible,” Johnson said, as she squeezed around the refrigerator laying flat in the middle of the kitchen floor. “Watch the floor – it is all soft here. I didn’t think it would be this bad. Everything is going to have to go – none of this can be saved!”
Her neighbors had similar reactions when they visited their homes. Many were moved to tears at what they saw, but they vowed to clean out and rebuild. They will need help, however, just to get through the next few days while they arrange for temporary housing, contact their insurance companies, and plan what to do. To help them during this critical time, the American Red Cross has mobilized a massive disaster relief effort for Cedar Rapids and nearby towns.
Red Cross provides disaster relief to Cedar Rapids
Since flooding began the Red Cross has been operating shelters in the area where hundreds of residents have taken refuge. The Red Cross, working with their partners the Southern Baptists, has set up a field kitchen and has begun mobile feeding in the flood-ravaged neighborhoods with a fleet of Emergency Response Vehicles (ERVs). They have also opened a Service Delivery Site at the West Dale Mall in Cedar Rapids to provide additional disaster relief to the area. Residents can pick up water, ice, cleanup kits and snacks, and meet with a Red Cross client service worker to receive emergency financial assistance.
Veronica Johnson was stunned at the destruction from the flood in her mother’s home on 6th Avenue SW in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Photo credit: Allen Crabtree, American Red Cross
Cedar Rapids, IA
|
The Red Cross Service Delivery Site represents just one component of the several disaster relief services that the Red Cross will continue to provide to the residents of the Cedar Rapids area as long as they are needed, including shelter, food, cleanup supplies, water and mental health counseling.
Financial assistance is provided to disaster victims based on their individual emotional, physical and material needs caused or exacerbated by the disaster, and is based on disaster-caused needs that an individual or family cannot meet because of lack of resources. After reviewing these factors, Red Cross client service workers present those eligible with a Red Cross client assistance card that they can use to purchase items to help them on their road to recovery.
Red Cross volunteer Ron Hurley heads up the Damage Assessment effort in the Cedar Rapids area. He has seven teams going door to door in the flooded neighborhoods to assess the damage in Cedar Rapids and in the other communities that were affected, such as Palo and Vinton.
“Our goal is to contact every affected home in the flooded areas, either through the residents coming here to the Service Delivery Site or through Red Cross outreach teams that we will send to the neighborhoods,” said Winfree. “If they can’t come to us, we’ll go to them.”
Veronica Johnson, her mother, and several friends who all had homes flooded, were among those who joined the line at the Red Cross Service Delivery Site when it opened on Wednesday afternoon. It took each of them about 45 minutes to meet with a Red Cross client service worker, have a case file opened, and complete the process. Each received a debit card preloaded with funds that they can use for food, clothing, medicine, or whatever immediate needs they may have as they begin to rebuild their lives after the floods.
“I didn’t know that the Red Cross would be so generous,” said Johnson as she left the Service Delivery Site. “The money that they have given us will go a long way to helping my family and I start our recovery. Thank you so much, Red Cross!”
About the American Red Cross:
The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and counsels victims of disasters; provides nearly half of the nation's blood supply; teaches lifesaving skills; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a charitable organization – not a government agency – and depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its humanitarian mission. For more information, please visit www.redcross.org or join our blog at www.redcrosschat.org.
Related Content:
|
