Region's workers, volunteers go south to assist in hurricane relief

Some of Southern Maryland’s workers and volunteers are lending a helping hand in a time of need.

Following the catastrophic devastation that Hurricane Helene wreaked across Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and other states, organizations like Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative and the Southern Maryland Chapter of the Red Cross have sent volunteers and workers to aid in recovery efforts.

On Sept. 26, two of SMECO’s cooperative crews headed south to Statesboro, Ga., to help fellow electricity company Excelsior Electric Membership Cooperative with restoration efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, which they are currently considering the worst storm to affect that area in the company's history, a spokesperson for SMECO told Southern Maryland News.

The same day, Hurricane Helene made landfall in the Big Bend region of Florida as a Category 4 hurricane.

SMECO’s crews have immense work cut out for them as of Sept. 27 as 100% of Excelsior Electric Membership Cooperative's, as well as several other Georgia electric co-ops, service territory are currently without power, according to a SMECO spokesperson.

Two additional crews left Sept. 28 to lend a hand in Millboro, Va., at BARC Electric Cooperative.

On Sept. 29, the crews left BARC Electric Cooperative and headed to Blue Ridge Power in Asheville, N.C.

In Buncombe County, where Asheville is located, at least 40 people have died as of Sept. 30.

Cell service in the region is also impacted and reporting of additional power outages may not be possible.

Georgia Transmission Corporation estimates more than 100 high-voltage transmission lines and 60-plus associated electrical substations are out of service.

Excelsior Electric Membership Cooperative shared that more than 6,400 line workers, contractors and support staff from across the country have mobilized to provide mutual aid.

Keith Andrew Perry, the executive director of Southern Maryland’s Red Cross chapter, said that 20 local volunteers have gone mostly to North Carolina to aide in the recovery effort.

“It’s still very new,” Perry said. “You hear the term ‘the fog of war,’ well there’s the ‘fog of disasters’ as well. So we haven’t gotten any direct feedback here. They are in contact with leadership that are responsible for directing the disaster response.”

Perry said that the volunteers deployed have a wide range of training and expertise in interacting with government officials, diversity training, providing emotional support and operating shelters.

“Charlotte is the rallying point,” Perry said. “Once we deploy, we’re all one Red Cross.”

Scott Marder, the regional communications manager for the American Red Cross of the National Capital and Greater Chesapeake Region, said that he had a conversation with a volunteer in Tallahassee, Fla., who went down before the hurricane hit.

The volunteer was a shelter manager and told Marder that while she was sitting with a 100-year-old woman and listening to the storm’s fury outside, she really began to appreciate how precious life is.

According to Perry, the Red Cross is servicing roughly 18,000 people the last he heard, but he is sure that number has since been far exceeded.

The “classic” deployment for volunteers is a two-week period, Perry said.

Perry urged people to consider donating to the Red Cross as resources are currently stretched “very, very thin.”

Currently, the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico have been placed on watch for tropical storm development, and if a new storm were to form, the Red Cross would need assistance in order to keep helping people, Perry said.

For more information about how to help through the Red Cross, go to www.redcross.org.