More than a million residents received evacuation orders earlier this week, with extensive power outages and freshwater flooding resulting from extensive rainfall over the next few days. Florence may produce 40 inches of rain in some areas of North and South Carolina, Virginia and other inland locations.
World Renew is accepting donations to respond to Hurricane Florence.
ALERT:
Text 20222 to RENEW to give $10! (US only)
Early this week, East Coast Regional Managers from World Renew’s Disaster Response Services (DRS) began preparations for a response to the storm. The representatives and World Renew DRS staff are collaborating with government and other non-profit organizations to plan for the possible launch of early assessment and rapid response teams into the damage areas after an “all clear” is issued by search and rescue personnel in the days ahead.
World Renew DRS provides volunteer labor and free recovery services in communities that are affected by natural disaster in the U.S. and Canada. World Renew prioritizes assisting disaster survivors who may “fall through the cracks” in these communities, such as the elderly, people who live below the poverty line, people with disabilities, and homeowners without insurance or in other circumstances that prevent them from recovering on their own.
World Renew DRS has a cadre of approximately 3,000 trained volunteers and is currently active in responding to 2017’s hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria in Texas, Florida, and Puerto Rico, as well as wildfires on the West Coast and damage caused by Hurricane Matthew in Tarboro, North Carolina, in 2016. Volunteers headed to this site to continue to help survivors recover from Hurricane Matthew have been delayed by Florence.
World Renew specializes in providing home repair and reconstruction services in the recovery process, and offers early assessments, rapid response, training in local community organizing, unmet needs assessment surveys, building estimates, and skilled volunteer work teams as well as short-term work groups.
For more information or to arrange an interview, Members of the Press can contact:
Kellie Scholma, World Renew DRS Communications Manager, at [email protected] or
Beth DeGraff, U.S. Media Contact at [email protected]
To support World Renew DRS in responding to the needs of people affected by Hurricane Florence, mail your check marked “Hurricane Florence” to:
World Renew Canada
3475 Mainway
STN LCD 1
Burlington, ON L7R 3Y8
or call (800) 730-3490
World Renew US
1700 28th St SE
Grand Rapids, MI 49508
or call (800) 552-7972
Photo Top: People are seen inside a shelter run by Red Cross before Hurricane Florence comes ashore in Grantsboro, North Carolina, U.S., September 13, 2018. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz