More than a dozen Iowans are among the hundreds of American Red Cross volunteers who’ve been sent to the southern U.S. to help flood victims.
Thousands of people have been forced out of their homes from flooding in Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Texas. Kara Kelly, with the Iowa Region of the Red Cross, says the workers from Iowa are from Albion, Ankeny, Cedar Falls, Dubuque, Marshalltown, Sioux City, and Waterloo.
“Some of them are disaster mental health workers, which means they may talk with people about the stress and the trauma they’ve experienced,” Kelly said. Other workers are distributing food and supplies.
Kelly expects many of the Iowa volunteers could be in the region for up to a month and more Red Cross workers from Iowa could be sent to the southern U.S. in the days to come. Two Des Moines based volunteers are “virtually deployed,” working with flood victims on the phone and/or online.