Arthur Foulkes
The Tribune-Star
BRAZIL —
As the East Coast braces for powerful Hurricane Earl, Wabash Valley Red Cross volunteers are preparing to help.
Richard and Janet Atkins of Brazil, volunteers with the American Red Cross Wabash Valley chapter, were making last-minute arrangements Wednesday afternoon for a 950-mile trip to Massachusetts as part of a multistate Red Cross response.
“We were put on alert [Tuesday],” Richard said as he and Janet spoke with the news media outside of the Wabash Valley Red Cross chapter on South Third Street. The couple were preparing to drive a large six-wheel Red Cross Emergency Response Vehicle to a Red Cross command center in the Boston area.
All of Indiana’s eight Red Cross ERVs are headed to the East Coast in anticipation of Earl, said Carol Stevens, executive director of the Wabash Valley chapter. More than 40 Red Cross ERVs were expected to arrive in North Carolina on Wednesday and a total of 150 Red Cross ERVs were put on alert in states as far away from the East Coast as Michigan and Wisconsin, according to a news release.
As of Wednesday, governors of three states — North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland — had declared states of emergency in anticipation of Earl, which had winds of 135 mph Wednesday afternoon.
Emergency responders and weather experts are concerned that Earl might come ashore in North Carolina and then turn north, moving up the coast. If that’s the case, hurricane-force winds could strike New York’s Long Island and metropolitan Boston.
There is also a chance the storm will turn north sooner and remain offshore, according to weather experts. As of Wednesday, only the Outer Banks of North Carolina had been evacuated in anticipation of the storm.
“If the hurricane turns in the other direction, we’ll go home,” Janet Atkins said. If not, the couple will be ready to help.
Janet and Richard Atkins, both of whom are retired, are committed to up to three weeks of voluntary service for the Red Cross on this particular mission, Stevens said.
Earl, a Category 4 hurricane Wednesday, is expected to reach North Carolina late today.
The Atkinses, who have been active Red Cross volunteers for three years, learned Tuesday they might be asked to help with disaster relief on the East Coast this week. They received confirmation they would be going about noon Wednesday, they said.
“It’s great that they are willing to go,” Stevens said. “They are pretty special people.”
In order to drive the ERV, which contains food and water supplies, the Atkinses were required to take special training courses, a safe driving course and pass a background test, Stevens noted.
Anyone wishing to make a donation to the Red Cross to help with hurricane relief can visit the Red Cross website at www.redcross.org or call 1-800-RED-CROSS. In addition, $10 donations can be made by texting the word REDCROSS to 90999.
Sending volunteers to the East Coast to help with potential hurricane relief means a lot for the Wabash Valley Red Cross, Stevens noted. “Back when we had our flood in 2008, people came here [from other places in the U.S.] to help us,” she said. “Now we can go to help other people.”
Arthur Foulkes can be reached at (812) 231-4232 or arthur.foulkes@tribstar.com.
