Hurricane Michael: Red Cross Helping as People Face Untold Devastation

As the ability to access areas impacted by the fury of Hurricane Michael grows, the extent of the destruction the storm left behind is becoming more and more apparent. The American Red Cross is on the ground, providing food, shelter, health services and comfort to thousands of people across the region.

In some areas, entire blocks of homes are destroyed. Storm damage can be seen throughout the region with homes, schools, medical facilities and businesses all victims of the storm’s fury. More than a million people are without power, roads are closed and travel is impacted.

(All information as of October 12)

Thousands of people have sought refuge in numerous Red Cross and community evacuation

centers across Florida, Georgia and Alabama. The Red Cross has mobilized more than 1,000 trained disaster workers to support relief efforts across three states. We have already served 30,000 snacks; and are working with partners to start serving tens of thousands of hot meals each day. We pre-positioned enough shelter supplies, including cots and blankets, to be able to support some 15,000 people. Since October 9, more than 4.8 million weather alerts have been issued through Red Cross apps allowing people to make informed and lifesaving decisions.

• If you need to find a shelter, visit here.
• Find out how to stay safe at redcross.org/hurricane.
• If you are without power, find out what you should do here.
• Download the free Red Cross Emergency App to have real-time information about the weather, shelter locations, as well how to stay safe during and after a hurricane and flood. The Emergency App is in English and Spanish and is available in app stores by searching for the American Red Cross or going to redcross.org/apps.

RECONNECTING WITH LOVED ONES Due to issues with communication lines throughout Florida’s Panhandle, there has been an increase in the number of calls for individuals missing, well-being checks, and concerns. The state has established a webpage for individuals to report these concerns. The State EOC will route these inquiries to the appropriate local agency for response. Go to Hurricane Michael Life Safety Reports.

• The Red Cross has two easy ways to help you reconnect with loved ones.
  • The Red Cross Emergency App features an “I’m Safe” button that allows users to post a message to their social accounts, letting friends and family know they are out of harm’s way.
  • The Red Cross also offers the Safe and Well website, a secure option that allows people to list their own status and allows friends and family to search for messages from their loved ones. To register yourself or search for a loved oneon the Safe and Well website, visit  redcross.org/safeandwell. You can also call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) to be connected with your local chapter.

HURRICANE FLORENCE Meanwhile, the Red Cross is still on the ground in the Carolinas, helping people impacted by Hurricane Florence. The Red Cross and other organizations have already provided more than 124,600 overnight stays in emergency shelters.

Working with partners, the Red Cross has served more than 1.55 million meals and snacks and

distributed more than 312,700 relief items like clean up kits, rakes, shovels, bleach, garbage bags and much more to help with the massive clean-up effort.

HOW YOU CAN HELP This is the second massive hurricane response in the United States in less than a month. Thousands of people are looking to the Red Cross for help, and the organization depends on financial donations to be able to provide disaster relief immediately. Help people affected by Hurricane Michael by visiting redcross.org, calling 1- 800-RED CROSS or texting the word MICHAEL to 90999 to make a $10 donation.

Donations enable the Red Cross to prepare for, respond to and help people recover from disasters.

The Red Cross honors donor intent. Donors can designate their donation to Hurricane Michael relief efforts by choosing that option when donating on redcross.org or on 1-800-RED CROSS.

BLOOD DONORS NEEDED NOW To meet patient needs, the Red Cross asks eligible individuals unaffected by Hurricane Michael to give blood. The storm has forced the cancellation of dozens of blood drives, causing nearly a thousand units of blood to go uncollected in Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. More blood drive cancellations are possible and low donor turnout is expected in the Southeast over the coming days as communities’ recover from the storm.

Before the storm, the Red Cross already had a critical need for blood and platelet donations following Hurricane Florence. Appointments can be made by using the Red Cross Blood Donor App, visiting redcrossblood.org or calling 1-800-RED CROSS.

CORPORATIONS HELP The generous donations from members of the Red Cross Annual Disaster Giving Program (ADGP) and the Disaster Responder Program enable the American Red Cross to prepare communities for disasters big and small, respond whenever and wherever disasters occur and help families during the recovery process.

ADGP $1 Million members are: Adelson Family Foundation; American Airlines; Anheuser-Busch Foundation; Anthem Foundation; Bank of America; Brown & Brown Insurance; Caterpillar Foundation; The Clorox Company; ConocoPhillips; Costco Wholesale; Delta Air Lines; Enterprise Rent-A-Car Foundation; FedEx; Grainger; The Home Depot Foundation; LDS Charities; Lowe's Companies, Inc.; Mazda North American Operations; Microsoft Corp.; Nationwide Foundation; PepsiCo Foundation; State Farm; Verizon; VSP Global; Walmart and the Walmart Foundation; and The Walt Disney Company.

ADGP $500,000 members are: 21st Century Fox; Altria Group; AmazonSmile; American Express; Aon; BMW of North America; Capital One; CBS Corporation; Cisco Foundation; Citi Foundation; Darden Restaurants, Inc. Foundation; Discover; Edison International; Energy Transfer/Sunoco Foundation; Ford Motor Company; General Motors; Humble Bundle; IBM Corporation; International Paper; John Deere Foundation; Johnson Controls; LabCorp; Medtronic Foundation; Meijer; Merck Foundation; Mondelēz International Foundation; New Balance Foundation; Nissan; Procter & Gamble Company; PwC; Southwest Airlines; Target; Tata Consultancy Services; TD Ameritrade; The TJX Companies, Inc.; United Airlines; UPS; The USAA Foundation; The Wawa Foundation; and Wells Fargo.

Disaster Responder Program members are: 7-Eleven Cares Foundation; Adobe; AdvoCare International L.P.; Alliance Data; Assurant; AT&T; AvalonBay Communities, Inc.; Avangrid Foundation; AXA Equitable Life; The Ball Foundation; Barclays; Boise Paper; CarMax; Choice Hotels International; Cox Automotive; DICK’S Sporting Goods; Duke Energy; Entergy Corporation; Farmers Insurance; Harbor Freight Tools Foundation, LLC; Hewlett Packard Enterprise Foundation; HP Foundation; HSBC Bank; Ingersoll Rand Foundation; The J.M. Smucker Company; Land O’Lakes, Inc.; Mastercard; Morgan Stanley; Neiman Marcus Group; Northrop Grumman Corporation; Northwestern Mutual and the Northwestern Mutual Foundation; Prudential Financial; Raytheon Company; Rodan + Fields Prescription for Change Foundation; Ryder; SC Johnson; Southeastern Grocers Home of BI-LO Harveys Winn Dixie; Standard Textile; The Starbucks Foundation; Stearns Bank; Toyota; U-Haul International; United Technologies Corporation; U.S. Bank; and Visa.