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PARKERSBURG -- Hurricane Milton has caused an emergency need for volunteers for the Red Cross that is already greatly involved in recovery efforts from Hurricane Helene, a local official said.
More volunteers are needed to both relieve those already deployed for Helene and to be assigned to the shelters that will be needed for Milton response, Sharon Kesselring, executive director of the American Red Cross of the Ohio River Valley, said.
Sheltering displaced residents will be the main task of the Red Cross, she said.
"That's our primary need at this point," Kesselring said.
A training session will be held from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Thursday at the offices of the Red Cross of the Ohio River Valley at 220 Eighth St. in downtown Parkersburg, Kesselring said. The primary purpose will be to train new volunteers in the operation of a Red Cross shelter, helping people and how the Red Cross deploys volunteers, she said.
People will have an opportunity to register as a volunteer for deployment, then wait for when they are needed, Kesselring said. The Red Cross makes all the arrangements for the transportation and housing of the volunteers in the disaster area, she said.
"People do not self-deploy for us," she said.
If people can not deploy to a shelter, volunteers also are needed for local disaster response, such as fires, Kesselring said. Those volunteers will free other volunteers who can be deployed, she said.
"Right now our emphasis is on sheltering," Kesselring said.
Those interested and willing to volunteer, but can not attend the Thursday training session can call Kesselring at 304-488-5279 or go online to www.americanredcross/carvolunteer.
"And then wait for the phone call," Kesselring said.
Deployments are up to two weeks, but some volunteers have been deployed for three weeks, she said. The commitment is not a small one, Kesselring said.
"They're going to have to have a big heart for this," she said.
The Red Cross among other agencies has deployed hundreds of volunteers for Hurricane Helene relief in Florida, the southern states and in North Carolina. Currently for Helene, about 40 volunteers from West Virginia are deployed, Kesselring said.
"We need to increase that at least two-fold," she said.
As of Tuesday, the Red Cross was operating 70 shelters across the nation, 45 of those in Florida where more than 3,500 people are being housed and 17 in North Carolina where 700 people are sheltered.
Hurricane Milton, which intensified to a Category 5, then reduced to a Category 4, is expected to hit landfall in the west central coast of Florida today or early Thursday morning. President Joe Biden said the storm could be among the worst in a century in Florida.