Iowans go south to help hurricane victims

Two Iowa women were expected to arrive in Montgomery, Alabama, late on Sunday, where they’ll be assigned to the area of Florida worst-hit by last week’s hurricane and tropical storm. 24-year-old Iowa City native Mary Yagla is an Americorps worker who helped drive a big Red Cross van into the deep south. Yagla says she’s assigned to the “mass care” unit. They’ll drive around in the emergency response vehicle to offer food and drinks to people effected by the disaster and the workers helping in the recovery process. Yagla lived in eastern Iowa during the floods of 1993 but this is the first disaster in which she’s been assigned to work. She says she’s “gone through a lot of training, so now I just get to put it into practice. Definitely excited, don’t know what to expect exactly so I’m looking forward to the challenge.” Yagla is being accompanied on the trip by veteran Red Cross staffer Donna Payne of Lamoni. They’ll be gone at least three weeks.