As the Category 5 Hurricane Milton approaches the central western Gulf coast of Florida, Sharon Carraway, director of the Capital Area Red Cross, is mobilizing troops of volunteers to assist those likely to be impacted from the storm.
“I’ve been with Red Cross 20 years and started with the ’04 four storms in Florida, and then Katrina. Right after (Hurricane) Katrina was (Hurricane) Rita,” Carraway said in an interview with the Tallahassee Democrat. “But this is the first time — I’ve been back home in Tallahassee for a little over 10 years — this is the first time we have had back-to-back-to-back (storms).”
Nearly 1,500 volunteers were deployed for two weeks starting Monday, Sept. 23, to help aid recovery efforts from Hurricane Helene. They’ve been asked to extend their stays to help with Hurricane Milton.
On Monday, an additional group of 300 Red Cross volunteers made their way to Orlando to help people prepare for Milton throughout the state, joining the remainder of the Helene volunteers who initially volunteered.