Northeast Wisconsin Red Cross volunteers head to Lousiana

The deadly flooding in Louisiana has the local Red Cross asking for volunteers.

The Red Cross Connecticut and Rhode Island Region is accepting volunteers interested in feeding, sheltering and supply distribution. The crew will join another truck from San Angelo.

Of the 47,000 volunteers going down to help, three are from the Erie area.

About 10,000 people woke up Monday morning in shelters.

She added that this was the organization’s largest sheltering effort in Louisiana since Hurricane Isaac in 2012.

Foster says the best way for anyone to help this recovery effort is to donate to the Red Cross online or through the text campaign for Louisiana. New volunteers need to apply, be accepted and trained before being able to deploy to Louisiana or another national disaster relief operation. Donations enable the red cross to help families recover from disasters.

The Salvation Army, which is dealing with flooding at its Baton Rouge facility, is helping thousands of residents who were forced to evacuate their homes.

Flooding is expected to continue for several days, and once waters recede it will take some time to fully uncover the extent of the devastation, according to the release.

People can also visit www.redcross.org/safeandwell to register on the Red Cross Safe and Well website, a secure and private way that friends and family connect. When a flood or flash flood warning is issued for your area, head for higher ground and stay there. “The water levels are still rising”.

The Red Cross says financial donations are better than goods, so they can buy items in Louisiana and get them directly to victims. Most cars can be swept away by less than two feet of moving water.