PORTLAND, Ore. — More than 50 American Red Cross volunteers from Oregon have already been in Florida for nearly two weeks helping clean up from Hurricane Helene, and now more local volunteers with the agency are preparing to make the trip due to Hurricane Milton, which is expected to case massive damage when it arrives on Wednesday.
It's already going to take months, if not years, for residents to recover from Hurricane Helene, which made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane late last month, and now Milton is following less than two weeks later.
"Right now we're really pushing for more volunteers because we need as much help as we can get," said Isabel Anderson, a communications manager with American Red Cross.
Parts of Florida are under evacuation ahead of Hurricane Milton, which quickly grew from a Category 1 hurricane Sunday night to a Category 5 hurricane by Monday morning.
"We're already sending people out to be deployed to Florida, we already have more than 50 people from this region to help with Hurricane Helene," said Anderson.
Many of the volunteers are helping out handing out food, as well as providing psychological help and being a comforting presence. One thing they really need is additional blood donations, Anderson added. Since Hurricane Helene hit, there have been a thousand appointments that were forced to cancel.
"I have a few relatives and I thought of all the times, now would be a good time," said Portland resident Sarah Delaney, who donated blood on Monday.
While blood donations are helpful, what will really help the Red Cross are cash donations as the agency works to help Florida residents endure the storms.
"With Hurricane Helene that has already hit, and then Milton on its way, we need help financially to be able to support that," Anderson said.
The first volunteer for Milton is expected to leave Portland tomorrow to head to Florida, and more are expected to follow later in the week.