Arizona Red Cross volunteers to assist with Hurricane Harvey cleanup
Aug 25, 2017, 2:59 PM | Updated: 3:28 pm
A group of American Red Cross volunteers gather at the Hurricane Harvey operation center in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Red Cross Texas Gulf Coast)
(Photo by Red Cross Texas Gulf Coast)
PHOENIX — More than a dozen volunteers from the Arizona Red Cross will be mobilized to Texas to assist with disaster relief efforts from Hurricane Harvey.
As of Friday, 15 volunteers and four Emergency Response Vehicles, or ERVs, were deployed to the American Red Cross operation center in Houston, Texas, spokesman Colin Williams said.
Williams said most of the volunteers will be activated once the storm passes.
The hurricane is expected to make landfall along the Texas Gulf Coast by Friday night, according to a press release from American Red Cross. It is expected to bring winds of more than 100 mph, up to 35 inches of rain and “devastating and life-threatening flooding.”
Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton tweeted Friday that search-and-rescue specialists from Phoenix Fire Department are “ready to deploy to assist with #HurricaneHarvey response efforts.”
Phoenix stands with Texas. @PHXFire search-and-rescue specialists are ready to deploy to assist with #HurricaneHarvey response efforts.
— Greg Stanton (@MayorStanton) August 25, 2017
Thousands flee Texas ahead of hurricane landfall
Tens of thousands of residents in Texas cities, including Houston and Corpus Christi, fled the area Friday as the hurricane strengthened to a Category 3 storm. The hurricane is projected to hit a wide swath of the coast that includes oil refineries and chemical plants.
The American Red Cross said the hurricane could possibly bring tornadoes and is expected to over over parts of Texas and Louisiana for several days. The organization said the hurricane could be the “most deadly and devastating” to strike the U.S. in more than a decade.
Scientists warned that Harvey could become powerful enough to swamp counties more than 100 miles (161 kilometers) inland and stir up dangerous surf as far away as Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, 700 miles from the projected landfall.
The last storm to reach Category 3 hit the U.S. was Hurricane Wilma in October 2005 in Florida. Superstorm Sandy, which pummeled New York and New Jersey in 2012, never had the high winds and had lost tropical status by the time it struck. But it was devastating without formally being called a major hurricane.
Harvey would be the first significant hurricane to hit Texas since Ike in September 2008 brought winds of 110 mph (177 kph) to the Galveston and Houston areas, inflicting $22 billion in damage. It would be the first big storm along the middle Texas coast since Hurricane Claudette in 2003 caused $180 million in damage.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
