'We can't wait till the last minute': Volunteers ready to help ahead of Hurricane Dorian

The Red Cross says it has almost 150 emergency vehicles from across the country stationed in the South, ready to help people who could feel the effects of Hurricane Dorian.

News 12 Staff

Sep 1, 2019, 9:05 PM

Updated 1,866 days ago

Share:

All eyes were on Dorian Sunday, the behemoth hurricane that raked across parts of the Bahamas as a dangerous Category 5 storm.
The storm is prompting people from across Long Island to take action to help. Sal Montoro, with the Long Island chapter of the Red Cross, was already at the organization's headquarters in Orlando Sunday.
Montoro says they are on standby, ready to help people who may be affected by Hurricane Dorian. The storm's exact track is still uncertain, but forecasters said that it was expected to skirt along the southeastern US coast offshore as it headed north. States including Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas could feel the storm's wrath over the next several days.
"We can't wait till the last minute. And if it does make a turn -- and then we're in a situation," Montoro says.
Montoro says their preparations include emergency response vehicles, almost 100 tractor-trailers filled with relief supplies like cots and blankets, and volunteers who are ready to cook and serve food.
"We'd be able to get them ramped up within a 48-hour period," Montoro says. "We've already put our orders in for that, but we put the orders in and we put everything in, say, 'Hold, don't send it yet.'"
The Red Cross says it has almost 150 emergency vehicles from across the country stationed in the South, ready to help people who could feel the effects of Hurricane Dorian.
Red Cross volunteers also say they are working to make sure evacuation centers are ready to open at a moment's notice to take in people who may be displaced by the storm.
Montoro says the best way for Long Islanders to help is to make a donation. He says the Red Cross is not a government agency and is 100% funded by donations that they use to buy food and emergency supplies.
undefined