With Hurricane Gustav expected to hit the US Gulf Coast shortly, around 1,500 people have already sought refuge in 100 American Red Cross shelters in the affected area.
"We’ll be there, and we're prepared to help," said Joseph Becker, senior vice president of disaster services for the American Red Cross.
“This storm is unpredictable and could cover a wide geography. The American Red Cross is as ready as we can be. We urge everyone to take this storm seriously.”
Shelters
In addition to the shelters already operating, nearly 400 more are ready to open as needed, with the capability of housing nearly 165,000 people.
“This is the largest American Red Cross relief effort since Hurricane Katrina hit this same region three years ago,” said Stacy Ragan, international operations manager for the American Red Cross.
"Relief workers, supplies and more than 200 mobile feeding trucks are already in place in four states along the Gulf Coast, because as we’ve seen before these storms can change direction at the last minute.”
Relief
The relief operation includes staging areas in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
If the current path holds, Hurricane Gustav is expected to make landfall just west of New Orleans. Once that happens and the needs are known, the American Red Cross workers stationed in the region will move the supplies to where they are needed most.
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Cots and blankets await evacuees at the Red Cross shelter set up in the United Methodist Church in Meridian, Mississippi. Over a thousand individuals were housed in this shelter during Katrina and they one again prepared to accommodate those displaced by Hurricane Gustav. Photo: Gene Dailey/American Red Cross (p18155)
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| Red Cross volunteers in New Orleans delivering water to evacuees. Photo: Marty Robey/American Red Cross (p18154) |
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