Louisiana Red Cross volunteers Thomas Butler and Joyce Bruce load a container of hot food onto an Emergency Response Vehicle to be delivered to families recovering from Hurricane Beryl. Photo by Jaka Vinsek/American Red Cross
The 2024 Atlantic hurricane season was kicked off by Hurricane Beryl, the earliest Category 5 hurricane observed in the Atlantic on record- fueled in part by exceptionally warm ocean temperatures. Beryl made landfall as a Category 1 storm in Texas, causing widespread power outages that affected nearly 3 million people.
The relief operation was supported by 795 trained disaster volunteers, who served more than 338,000 meals and cared for 980 residents in 36 emergency shelters. Red Cross caseworkers provided more than 1,460 people with recovery support, including immediate financial assistance, replacement of eyeglasses and other crucial medical needs like prescriptions.
Team Louisiana volunteers, including our own regional executive, deployed to support shelters, serve hot meals, distribute emergency supplies and contribute to long-term recovery efforts in Houston and surrounding areas.
Only one month into his new role as Louisiana Region's Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Kenneth St. Charles deployed to Texas to gain hands-on disaster relief experience in the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl.
In an exerpt from his guest column in The Times-Picayune, Dr. St. Charles shares his takeaways from the operation:
"There, I witnessed firsthand how the American Red Cross prepares for and responds to these powerful and life-threatening storms. Our goal is always to be the first on the scene, alongside first responders, offering food, shelter, relief supplies, comfort, recovery planning and other assistance to help people in their time of greatest need.
In Texas, we set up shelters and cooling stations to provide safety and comfort to more than 1.5 million Texas residents who were without electricity for over a week.
In this era of rapid intensification and climate crisis, severe weather is causing unprecedented levels of destruction and misery. Wind damage was once the predominant result of major hurricanes, but we now are dealing with large, slow-moving storms that cause power outages during periods of excessive heat, torrential rains, flooding and costly loss of uninsured personal property.
These storms hit vulnerable communities hard, often disproportionately impacting the elderly and financially disadvantaged citizens who do not have the resources or personal transportation to escape the devastation.
Texas citizens suffered many of these effects in the days following Hurricane Beryl, and I had the privilege to serve alongside nearly 600 Red Cross volunteers and staff from 49 states.
I was often reminded that had Beryl moved a mere 200 miles to the east and made landfall in south Louisiana, these same volunteers would have deployed to Louisiana instead of Texas because the Red Cross plan is flexible enough to ensure that, without exception, the workforce responding to disasters is deployed to the right place at the right time.
In Texas, I witnessed up close the part of the Red Cross operation that gets little attention, namely the behind-the-scenes workers who were loading and unloading the trucks, coordinating the food preparation and delivery, setting up the sleeping cots and ordering new eyeglasses and medical prescriptions.
And of course, as a nonprofit organization that never charges anything for the services we provide, the American Red Cross relies on the generosity of thousands of unseen citizens who choose to financially support our efforts, motivated by their desire to assist us in alleviating human suffering.
No one goes to sleep at night thinking that the next day they might be the victim of some type of life-altering natural disaster or home tragedy. The citizens of Louisiana should take comfort knowing that, thanks to our volunteers and our generous donors, we will always be prepared."
Hurricane Debby brought life-threatening wind speed, record-breaking rainfall and dangerous flooding to Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas in early August.
Alongside the national network of more than 1,110 compassionate Red Cross volunteers, teammates from Louisiana deployed to bring comfort, care and hope to affected areas across multiple states. Working together, our volunteers served 35,775 hot meals and provided more than 10,000 relief items like comfort kits and emergency supplies to people in need across four states. Volunteer damage assessment teams surveyed 587 homes that recived major damage or were destroyed to connect families with immediate recovery resources.
Volunteers from the Louisiana Region supported the disaster in many roles, including sheltering, feeding, spiritual care, operations and more!
Three Louisiana Emergency Response Vehicle (ERV) Teams loaded up emergency supplies and hit the road to be pre-positioned before Debby's landfall. After the storm passed, one ERV team (manned by Louisiana volunteers Carolyn Adams and Cora Lee) helped deliver emergency aid to flooded neighborhoods.
Hurricane Francine made landfall in Louisiana as a Category 2 storm, bringing widespread flash flooding, power outages and damaging winds to areas throughout southeast Louisiana.
More than 240 Red Cross volunteers responded in Louisiana's time of need, with responders from 46 states supporting shelters, community feeding sites and more. Our volunteers, alongside our partners, staffed 28 shelters, served 20,000 meals, and distributed 2,100 emergency clean-up kits in the immediate aftermath of the storm. In the first weeks of recovery, 300 Louisianans with major damage or destroyed homes were assisted with immediate financial aid.
In a true display of "neighbors helping neighbors", nearly half of the volunteers who helped after Francince were from Louisiana.
Hurricane Francine hit Terrebonne Parish and surrounding bayou communities that sustain repeated impacts from disasters year after year. Our Community Adapation Program (CAP) team, located in Terrebonne, partners with local nonprofits that specialize in health, hunger and housing to build more resiliency in areas with high risk of severe weather in areas that are underserved.
In the days and weeks following Francine, our CAP partners rallied around residents of Houma and beyond to provide free meals, health screenings and clean-up supplies.
Back-to-back major hurricanes Helene and Milton made landfall in Florida less than two weeks apart, causing catastrophic impacts in North Carolina and compounded flooding in many coastal areas. Hurricane Helene left a path of destruction over 500 miles long and devastated communities in six states with flooding that uprooted lives, destroyed infrastructure and left inconceivable damage behind. Hurricane Milton followed closely behind, bringing damage and flooding to Florida residents who had just started recovering from Helene.
The American Red Cross launched a massive response, with more than 1,400 volunteers on the ground throughout impacted areas. On the day of Milton's landfall, more than 80,000 people sought safety in 300+ shelters filled with compassionate volunteers who raised their hand to help. Alongside our partners, we have provided more than 2 million meals and snacks, 184,000 relief items and are supporting community care centers that provide amenities like showers, laundry, Wi-Fi, meals and water.
In the first month of response after Helene's impact, more than 20 Louisianans deployed to support the largescale efforts, especially in North Carolina and Florida. Volunteers from Louisiana are supporting shelters, assessing damage, delivering meals and essential supplies in emergency response vehicles, and working with government officials to help meet immediate needs of families.
In an extension of Louisiana's humanitarian spirit, the New Orleans Saints helped to raise money for the American Red Cross in support of Hurricanes Milton and Helene. To extend their impact, they also encouraged fans to bring canned food items to the game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Our volunteers supported the food collection efforts outside of the Superdome in New Orleans, contributing their time and energy to support disaster-impacted families, even from afar. Louisianans know it takes many people organizations working together to bring relief and hope after disasters.
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