Hurricane Florence
People are seen inside a shelter run by Red Cross before Hurricane Florence comes ashore in Grantsboro, North Carolina, U.S., September 13, 2018.
REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
Hurricane Florence made landfall on the Carolina coast this morning as a Category 1 storm with heavy rain and 100 mph winds that are pushing a heavy storm surge onshore.
More than a million residents received evacuation orders earlier this week, with extensive power outages and freshwater flooding resulting from extensive rainfall over the next few days. Florence may produce 40 inches of rain in some areas of North and South Carolina, Virginia and other inland locations.
Early this week, East Coast Regional Managers from World Renew’s Disaster Response Services (DRS) began preparations for a response to the storm. The representatives and World Renew DRS staff are collaborating with government and other non-profit organizations to plan for the possible launch of early assessment and rapid response teams into the damage areas after an “all clear” is issued by search and rescue personnel in the days ahead.
World Renew DRS provides volunteer labor and free recovery services in communities that are affected by natural disaster in the U.S. and Canada. World Renew prioritizes assisting disaster survivors who may “fall through the cracks” in these communities, such as the elderly, people who live below the poverty line, people with disabilities, and homeowners without insurance or in other circumstances that prevent them from recovering on their own.
World Renew DRS has a cadre of approximately 3,000 trained volunteers and is currently active in responding to 2017’s hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria in Texas, Florida, and Puerto Rico, as well as wildfires on the West Coast and damage caused by Hurricane Matthew in Tarboro, North Carolina, in 2016. Volunteers headed to this site to continue to help survivors recover from Hurricane Matthew have been delayed by Florence.
World Renew specializes in providing home repair and reconstruction services in the recovery process, and offers early assessments, rapid response, training in local community organizing, unmet needs assessment surveys, building estimates, and skilled volunteer work teams as well as short-term work groups.
World Renew is accepting donations to respond to Hurricane Florence. You can find giving options here.
