- Utah volunteers are assisting the Red Cross in Hawaii after severe flooding on Oahu.
- Oahu faced dangerous conditions with over 230 rescues; shelters provided refuge and aid.
- The Red Cross is urging all volunteers to prepare for upcoming hurricane and wildfire seasons.
SALT LAKE CITY — Volunteers from Utah are helping the American Red Cross assist hundreds of people affected by severe flooding in Hawaii, where heavy rain damaged hundreds of homes, forced rescues and knocked out power.
At the height of the storms last weekend, the Red Cross operated 18 shelters across the islands, providing food, emotional support and temporary refuge, according to the organization. Conditions were especially dangerous on Oahu, where floodwaters turned roads into rivers, and more than 230 people were rescued.
Matt Stevens, a regional disaster officer for the American Red Cross, said 29 people remained in Red Cross shelters Monday night, down from earlier counts.
"Our priorities? It's the food, sheltering and water," he said. "Of course we're also going to be providing mental health support and health services, which is nurses and physicians that connect with people that maybe lost medications while they were temporary displaced."
Three volunteers from Sandy, Salt Lake City and Layton were deployed to Hawaii over the weekend to assist with shelter operations and damage assessments.
"Our headquarters is in Washington, D.C., " Stevens said. "We have offices all over the country, and it's our volunteer services team that analyzes the area of expertise that our volunteers are in and who's qualified, and based off of those qualifications, they may very well get a phone call from us.
"And that's what happened Saturday morning," she said. "First thing for volunteers, I'm told it was a extremely quick turnaround as one could imagine for Hawaii support."
Additional Utah teams have been placed on standby as response efforts continue. The Red Cross said crews are also working in areas where cell service has been disrupted by the storms.
The organization encouraged people interested in volunteering to sign up now, noting that hurricane and wildfire season is approaching and demand for disaster response is expected to increase.
"Any Utahn that might be interested in supporting on that next disaster, we encourage them to go online to redcross.org and apply," Stevens said. "We get them trained up now, and we'll send them out, just like we sent out folks on Saturday to Hawaii."
