Local Red Cross members gear up to help those impacted by Hurricane Helene

PORTLAND, Ore. ( KOIN ) — Here in the northwest, local Red Cross members plan to do their part to help those affected by Hurricane Helene, whose impacts are expected to be catastrophic.

While Helene may be a tropical storm, it’s still expected to bring heavy rain and damage to areas across the U.S. But people in Florida are continuing to struggle in the aftermath.

This is why people such as regional disaster officer Jonathan Seibert are flying to Florida on Friday to help in the recovery efforts.

“The Red Cross has a lot of people who have been doing hurricane response for a long time,” he said. “My role is just to make sure I understand how I can be helpful.”

Seibert added the Red Cross is already doing its part to help those impacted.

“There’s 360 Red Cross responders already on the ground over there and they’ve been setting up in advance,” he noted. “But we know we need people before landfall and after landfall. And we don’t really know how long the response is going to be.”

Regardless, Seibert said he’s ready to head to the east coast to advise and learn what the needs will be as a shelter supervisor.

“We’ve already been setting up shelters for a couple days now,” he said. “[Thursday] night we had 9,000 people in shelters in Florida and Georgia. And we know the hurricane is going through and that the needs are going to be. We’re going to learn more about them as we go. That’s what I’m going in for.”

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KOIN.com.