Local Red Cross Agencies Called To Assist Hurricane Relief

Photo: NASA

NASA captured this image of the storm just after 11a.m. Friday as it moved through the eastern Caribbean Sea.

Hurricane Isaac is taking aim at Florida and local Red Cross volunteers are heading south to assist. Volunteers from around the state left Friday for Tampa.

Bloomington sent one person as well as its emergency response vehicle staffed with two volunteers from Indianapolis.  Evansville, South Bend and Columbus are among the other communities with volunteers either in en route or already on the ground.  They will likely be in Tampa for the next two to three weeks.  Bloomington Chapter Director Sue Gulley says the last time volunteers were mobilized like this was in March when tornadoes struck Henryville.

“Typically when a disaster is near a particular region we’ll have more call outs for our disaster volunteers,  but in the case of hurricane season, they need so many volunteers to help because so many states might be affected by it that they’ll do a wider volunteer call out to the Midwest,” Gulley says.

Gulley says the Red Cross will shift its volunteers if Hurricane Isaac changes course. According to the National Weather Service, Isaac could hit just west of Tampa Monday. Gulley says local Red Cross agencies are prepared to send down more people to Florida if there is a need.