Dozens of Massachusetts volunteers are down south to help out with immediate support in the wake of Helene.
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Hurricane Helene is impacting flights here in Boston, with 33 cancellations and 96 delays at Logan Airport on Friday morning.
About 15 members of the Red Cross from Massachusetts are already down in Florida and Georgia – or headed down there this morning – to help people affected by the hurricane. They join 45 members from Massachusetts Task Force One who already flew down there to help with inland flooding and other potential issues stemming from Hurricane Helene.
Both groups of volunteers will be providing humanitarian aid to thousands of people – including medical supplies, shelter, and even driving around impacted communities with trucks filled with hot meals, water, and blankets.
While members of the those humanitarian organizations head south, others who live down there were heading up here to avoid it.
“It was definitely raining and there was some wind, but I think it was just the start of it. I just wanted to get out as soon as I could before things really got bad," said Lindsay Robertson, who flew out of North Carolina ahead of the storm.
“I lived there when Michael came through six years ago -- Category 5," said Debbie Funkhouser of Panama City, Florida. "It’s very scary. It makes me really sad. I'm worried about the people in the Panhandle and the Big Bend because it’s very low there.”
Others were stuck at Logan Airport on Friday hoping to board their flights south later in the day.
“I think it’s a little late, but I guess we’re going to get in behind the storm," said Scott Forrester, who is flying to Auburn, Alabama, to see his daughter.
“I’m just – you know – if I get there, I get there. If I don’t, I don’t,” said John Morrissey, who is flying to Savannah, Georgia.
Savannah Pacheco, who is flying to Tampa said, “I didn’t think we were going to be here today, but I’m glad we are and I hope everyone is safe and we arrive safely as well.”
We caught up with a member of the Red Cross here in Massachusetts who is keeping her fingers crossed that her flight from Logan to Jacksonville, Florida, doesn’t end up as part of the growing list of cancellations and delays.
“Every disaster is a little bit different, however, the Red Cross has a playbook that we operate from. We know kind of what the needs are going to be and what the challenges are going to be, sometimes, and then it’s also a very fluid situation," said Kelly Isenor, Red Cross Massachusetts director of communications. "But again, prepositioning supplies, warehouses that have pallets of water, cots, things like that, that helps with shelters.”
The Red Cross expects to be down South for about two weeks, but it could end up being longer depending on the impact of this hurricane.
