Even as Tropical Storm Irene weakened from hurricane status, it brought major damage to communities all along the eastern seaboard, from South Carolina to Vermont and Maine, claiming the lives of more than 30 people in 10 states, destroying homes and businesses, causing widespread flooding
and leaving 5 million people still without power. More than a half million
people were without power in Connecticut, the largest outage in the state's
history. In the aftermath, some
preliminary estimates put storm-related damages in the billions. Authorities are estimating it may
take weeks to restore power in some hard hit areas. The threat of more severe
flooding is expected to remain high for several days.
AmeriCares has readied an emergency response to help
men, women, and children who have felt the impact of the violent storm. Our
U.S. team has reached out to our partners in several states to assess potential
needs. In the meantime, our stock of
targeted medicines and supplies is being readied for delivery to hard hit areas,
along with water shipments and other basic supplies. Members of our emergency
response team are prepared to deploy if needed.
Irene made landfall in North
Carolina as a Category 1 hurricane on Saturday, August 27, battering coastal
communities as it pounded its way northward, unleashing torrential rains and
damaging winds up to 85 mph. A state of emergency was declared in 9 states as
hundreds of thousands evacuated their homes. The entire New York City transit
system shut down at noon for the first time in history as a precaution against
the storm's wrath. The slow-moving, 500-mile-wide system was downgraded to a
tropical storm by the time it made landfall in New Jersey, but its ferocious
wind and rain took down trees and power lines, damaged homes and businesses,
and caused massive flooding in low-lying areas. The flooding in particular has
made it difficult and often impossible for people to return to their homes.
Photo courtesy of REUTERS/Mike Segar, www.Alernet.org
"Even as officials along the
East Coast issued urgent warnings about Hurricane Irene, AmeriCares began
working to ensure that critical medical supplies and other basic aid will be
available in the recovery effort,” said Ella Gudwin, Senior Vice President of
Emergency Response at AmeriCares. "We pre-position emergency medicines and
supplies so that they can be delivered at a moment's notice.”
For more than
25 years, our U.S. Emergency Response team has delivered critical medicines and
supplies to help victims of hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, wildfires and
floods, including a long-term response to Hurricane Katrina as well as the
spring 2011 tornadoes.
Support
AmeriCares storm relief efforts as we respond to help victims of Tropical Storm
Irene.
