Red Cross Provides Support to Residents Impacted by Flooding

“We stayed until it started coming through the floors.” 

It was early March, and Rebecca and her family were in their home in Estill County, KY when the rain started. What first seemed to be an unusually heavy rainstorm turned into something more worrisome as time went on and the rain showed no signs of slowing or stopping. It became a cause for alarm when Rebecca and her family noticed water starting to rise in the low area behind their home that evening. As the night went on and they saw the water was inching closer with no signs of stopping, they made the difficult decision to leave. 

Volunteers Sarah and Sadiq speak with Rebecca (right) while
assessing flood damage in her neighborhood

“When we saw that it was going to come in, we started grabbing medicine, dry clothes and shoes and helped our grandmother evacuate,” said Rebecca. 

Estill County was just one of several Kentucky counties impacted by flooding in early March. The floodwaters met or broke local historical records and reached areas that had not seen such severe flooding in decades, if at all. Early estimated numbers show over 900 homes across the state have been damaged or destroyed by flooding. 

“Nothing like this has ever happened here before,” said Rebecca. When Rebecca and her family were able to go back to their home, they discovered water had come up through their floor and had gotten into the insulation in their walls. “Mold is a concern. We might have to tear the subfloor out to make sure things get dry.” 

When Red Cross volunteers arrived to assess the flood damage in the area, Rebecca and her family were working on tearing out the insulation in their home. Many of their possessions were on their porch drying in the sun, but they had lost their sheets and blankets and will have to replace their carpeting and air conditioning unit. They were grateful to see the Red Cross in their neighborhood. 

 “We had heard of the Red Cross, but we had never had to use them before,” said Rebecca. “We’re glad to see them today.” Our volunteers were able to provide Rebecca and her family with information about nearby shelters and other resources. 

Since March 1, the Red Cross has been working with local emergency management, assisting individuals and families impacted by recent floods, and providing safe shelter, food and other support to people in need across the state. The Red Cross has also been working with the Southern Baptist Kitchen to provide meals to shelter residents and individuals and families of Breathitt and surrounding counties, whose homes have been impacted by the floods. To date, the Red Cross has provided more than 5,000 stays in emergency lodging and served nearly 52,000 meals and snacks. 

 If you have been impacted by flooding, please call 1-800 RED CROSS.

My Story Monday: Sally Higgins – Disaster Cycle Services

Our volunteers are always ready to respond, whether by offering support when disaster strikes, helping with lifesaving blood collection or working behind the scenes to support our vital mission. This week, we’re spotlighting Sally Higgins, a Bluegrass Area Chapter disaster volunteer who has been with the American Red Cross since 2001.

Sally Higgins

Sally began her Red Cross journey as a first aid instructor, but became interested in disaster response after volunteering to bring water to firefighters responding to a wildfire in Colorado, where she was living. After her retirement in the fall of 2018, she deployed to Florida during the Hurricane Michael disaster response and was called upon to manage a shelter team as a shelter supervisor. Shelter supervisors guide and support the day-to-day activities within a shelter, including assisting shelter residents and supervising other volunteers working at the shelter.

She came back from the experience enthusiastic about disaster response and ready to hit the ground running, taking disaster training and sharing many ideas of how she could assist with preparing Kentucky Region chapters locally. Sally has since deployed to seven disaster responses across the country and in the Kentucky Region.

Always willing to help where she is needed, Sally has also taken on multiple on-call shifts outside of the Bluegrass Area Chapter, and in the Louisville Area Chapter she has been a champion of the disaster action team (DAT). DAT volunteers respond to local, personal emergencies like home fires, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

“One of the most important things about being a disaster volunteer is understanding the people we help and where they’re coming from,” said Sally.

Sally has taken her experiences as a DAT member and turned them into a willingness to onboard, mentor, and engage other volunteers. She works to increase our volunteers’ opportunities to grow as DAT responders, and takes new volunteers under her wing.

Since Sally’s retirement, she has branched out into new roles and excelled in leadership, setting examples for other team members. She has earned the position of Emergency Management Agency Team Member because of her efforts working with Emergency Management Agencies. She is also a Clara Barton Award recipient, an award that honors a volunteer for service in Red Cross leadership positions over many years.

Thank you, Sally, for your commitment to the Red Cross mission and for the time, care and integrity you extend to your fellow volunteers!

You can learn more about becoming a Red Cross volunteer by visiting redcross.org/volunteertoday.

My Story Monday: Jamie Taylor

Jamie has volunteered with our Red Cross Eastern Kentucky Chapter for 5 years and donates his time as a Disaster Action Team volunteer and blood donor ambassador. He dove into volunteering in 2015 when floods struck his Martin County, KY community and helped serve as a guide for Red Cross volunteers while they worked on assessing flood damage.

“There were some people who weren’t familiar with Martin County like I was,” said Jamie. “The next thing I know, I’m signed up.”

While Jamie’s early deployments kept him close to home, where he supported flooding and other local disaster responses in the Kentucky Region, he has since deployed 25 times to help support disasters across the country. Many of his deployments have been to hurricanes in the southern states, the first being Hurricane Matthew in 2016. The farthest Jamie has ever deployed was to California, where he assisted with the response to the Oroville Dam crisis.

Jamie typically works as a shelter supervisor on deployments. Shelter supervisors guide and support the day-to-day activities within a shelter, including providing information to shelter residents, coordinating meals and making sure the needs of the shelter residents are being met.

His most memorable deployment experience happened during Hurricane Florence in North Carolina. Due to severe flooding, Jamie and several others were airlifted to the local school where they were going to work as shelter volunteers.

“It was the first time I ever got to ride in a Black Hawk helicopter,” said Jamie. “It was the only way I could’ve gotten to the job site. When we got to the shelter, we landed on a tennis court or football field and walked into the school."

Jamie also worked as shelter manager on his two most recent deployments this fall, where he spent several weeks in September and October supporting Baton Rouge and New Orleans residents after Hurricanes Laura and Marco. His role involved keeping track of local conditions, making sure COVID-19 safety protocols were being followed, and making sure residents’ needs were being met in the hotel they were using as a non-congregate shelter.

Even after a busy hurricane season, Jamie is still always prepared to answer the call when disaster strikes.

“It’s an opportunity to go to different states that I’ve never gotten to visit, [and] that same desire to help people. I’m always up and ready.”

You can learn more about becoming a Red Cross volunteer by visiting redcross.org/volunteertoday.

Kentucky Region Welcomes New Senior Disaster Program Manager

The Kentucky Region Red Cross is excited to welcome Zach Stokes to our team! Zach joins us from the Tennessee Region and will become our new Senior Disaster Program Manager serving Kentucky, Southern Indiana and Southern Illinois.  

Zach Stokes is from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He graduated from Norwich University in Vermont with a Bachelor of Arts in Studies in War and Peace and a Master of Arts in Military History. While finishing a Master of Science in Justice Studies in 2016, he started volunteering with the Central Southwest Chapter of the Oklahoma Red Cross and was soon deployed to Louisiana for the Baton Rouge Floods, then to western Oklahoma for a tornado. He joined AmeriCorps, a network of national service programs that work to improve lives and foster civic engagement, in 2017, and served with the West Michigan Chapter of the Michigan Region Red Cross. There he supported chapter activities and responses, as well as helped plan and coordinate the Home Fire Campaign and Sound the Alarm.  

In 2018, Zach became the Disaster Program Specialist for the Nashville Area Chapter of the Tennessee Region Red Cross.  He helped increase both the Disaster Action Team and Preparedness Education programs. He participated in several major disaster responses, including 90- and 40-unit apartment fires, flash flooding, and windstorms. During the 2020 Middle Tennessee Tornado response, he led Community Engagement and Partnerships, and increased partnerships with the NAACP, Islamic Center of Nashville, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, National Baptist Convention, African Methodist Episcopal Church, and Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship International.  

Outside of work, Zach loves to watch football, read military history books, try new restaurants and food, kayaking, and hanging out with his 9-month puppy, Trey. He looks forward to exploring Kentucky and meeting the staff and volunteers of the Kentucky Region.