WASHINGTON, D.C., MAY 29, 2019 — The American Red Cross continues to help thousands of people affected by the ongoing tornadoes and flooding plaguing the Midwest as millions of people from Texas to New York face another day of threats of severe weather in their communities.
As many as 485 people spent Tuesday night in 31 Red Cross and community shelters across the affected region. This includes 131 people in 6 shelters in Ohio, 196 in 10 shelters in Oklahoma and 129 in 7 shelters in the Missouri-Arkansas area.
More than 500 trained Red Cross disaster workers are working across eight states, opening shelters and providing food, relief supplies, health services, emotional comfort, helping to assess the damage and working with people to plan their next steps.
The National Weather Service (NWS) reports there have been preliminary reports of more than 740 tornadoes in the United States in April and May. Overnight a massive tornado touched down near Lawrence, Kansas, damaging homes and businesses. Red Cross workers opened a shelter in Lawrence where people affected can also find meals and help with finding services in their community.
Flooding also continues to force people from their homes in the region as waters continue to rise. More than 30 locations are at major flood stage on the Mississippi and Arkansas rivers.
Today almost 117 million people from the Plains to the East face the threat of severe weather. These storms may produce hail, strong winds, heavy rain and tornadoes from St. Louis to Dallas and in major cities such as Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New York City and Washington, D.C.
The Red Cross is monitoring these situations and prepared to respond if necessary.
IF YOU NEED TO FIND A SHELTER Call 1-800-REDCROSS (1-800-733-2767), visit redcross.org or download the free Red Cross Emergency App. You can also check with your local officials for information on where to find a shelter.
The Emergency App also provides emergency alerts and information about what to do in case of emergencies such as tornadoes and flooding. Users can find it in smartphone app stores by searching for the American Red Cross or going to redcross.org/apps.
The Red Cross encourages people impacted to list yourself as “safe and well” on the free Safe and Well website. Family and friends may then search for the name of anyone they are trying to locate. The site is always available and available in Spanish.
HOW YOU CAN HELP You can help people affected by disasters like storms and countless other crises by making a gift to American Red Cross Disaster Relief. Your gift enables the Red Cross to prepare for, respond to and help people recover from disasters big and small. Call, click, or text to give: visit redcross.org, call 1-800 RED CROSS or text the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation. To donate by check or to a specific cause, please complete this donation form by printing and mailing to your local Red Cross chapter.
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: American Airlines; Anheuser-Busch Foundation; Anthem Foundation; Bank of America; Caterpillar Foundation; The Clorox Company; Costco Wholesale; Delta Air Lines; Enterprise Rent-A-Car Foundation; FedEx; The Home Depot Foundation; LDS Charities; Lilly Endowment Inc.; 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; Aon; BMW of North America; Capital One; Cisco Foundation; Citi Foundation; Darden Foundation; Delta Dental Community Care Foundation; Discover; Energy Transfer/Sunoco Foundation; Ford Motor Company; General Motors; Grainger; Humble Bundle; IBM Corporation; International Paper; Johnson Controls Foundation; LHC Group; Merck Foundation; Mondelēz International Foundation; New Balance Foundation; Nissan; Procter & Gamble Company; PwC Charitable Foundation; Sands Cares; Southwest Airlines; Target; 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; American Express; Assurant; AstraZeneca; AT&T; AvalonBay Communities, Inc.; Avangrid Foundation; AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company; The Ball Foundation; Barclays; CarMax; Choice Hotels International; Cox Enterprises; DICK’S Sporting Goods; Duke Energy; Edison International; Entergy Corporation; GE Foundation; Harbor Freight Tools Foundation, LLC; Hewlett Packard Enterprise Foundation; HP Foundation; Ingersoll Rand Foundation; The J.M. Smucker Company; John Deere Foundation; The Kraft Heinz Company Foundation; Land O’Lakes, Inc.; Mastercard; Medtronic Foundation; Neiman Marcus Group; Northrop Grumman Corporation; Northwestern Mutual and the Northwestern Mutual Foundation; Old Dominion Freight Line; Prudential Financial; Rodan + Fields Prescription for Change Foundation; Ryder System, Inc.; SC Johnson; Security Finance’s Lending Hand Foundation; Southeastern Grocers Home of BI-LO Harveys Winn Dixie; The Starbucks Foundation; Tata Consultancy Services; Toyota; U-Haul International; United Technologies Corporation; U.S. Bank; and Visa.
About the American Red Cross:
The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides comfort to victims of disasters; supplies about 40% of the nation’s blood; teaches skills that save lives; distributes international humanitarian aid; and supports veterans, military members and their families. The Red Cross is a nonprofit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to deliver its mission. For more information, please visit redcross.org or CruzRojaAmericana.org, or follow us on social media.