On Saturday, September 26, Hurricane Helene made landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast. The Category 4 hurricane, with wind speeds of 140 mph, left a path of destruction over 500 miles long.
As the death toll rises, more than 2.1 million people are left without power as part of the damage across six states: South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee.
“The unique thing about this specific hurricane is that it is affecting so many different states at the same time. It affected Florida when it made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane, and it continued going up dropping tremendous amounts of rain in Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. Right now, there are hundreds of thousands of people without power in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and West Virginia,” stated Hani Hamwi, IRUSA Disaster Management Team (DMT) Manager.
IRUSA has launched an emergency response to provide support and relief to individuals affected by the devastation of Hurricane Helene. Our Disaster Management Team (DMT) is assessing at the national level through FEMA, as well as at the state level with other agencies.
“Once water levels have receded, our DMT is deploying a group of 7–8 staff and volunteers to perform muck-outs of homes damaged by the hurricane,” he explained. This involves removing anything that has been contaminated (furniture, drywall, etc.) to prevent mold from growing in homes.
“We will go to homeowners who are physically unable, primarily senior citizens and people with disabilities, and conduct these muck-outs, essentially removing any contaminated items.”
These efforts are extremely important not only to prevent mold from growing, but also because of the different types of illnesses that can be found from the contamination. “If you can imagine, when the water rises, it’s not only river water that rises, but also sewer water and other contaminants. Anything that the water touches needs to go,” he explained.
“There are hundreds of thousands of homes that need to be done. This is the beginning of a very long process.”
Time is critical. Please, don’t wait to donate to our US Humanitarian Aid fund to help our efforts.