Photo Courtesy of REUTERS/Jose Luis Magana, www.Alertnet.org
One of many scenes of destruction by Hurricane Irene.
As
communities along the East Coast begin to pick up the pieces in the aftermath
of Hurricane Irene’s devastation, AmeriCares
has responded to an urgent request in rural Virginia near Richmond, with a rush delivery of water for hurricane
survivors.
When the
Virginia Department of Emergency Management sent the request, AmeriCares
immediately contacted partner Nestle Water North America to schedule the
delivery of two truckloads of bottled water to fill this vital resource gap. Power is not expected to be
restored in these rural communities for the next three weeks, rendering
electric well pumps unusable and cutting off access to clean water for
thousands of families.
“More than
one million people remain without power in the state, and many local
communities who depend on wells for their drinking water,” said Terry Raines of
the Virginia Department of Emergency Management. “Without power, these people
are now without water.”
In North Carolina and Virginia, where
the hurricane made landfall on Saturday, AmeriCares and Nestle Waters North
America are delivering more than 120,000 bottles of water for families affected
by severe flooding and major power outages. In North Carolina, bottled water
will be delivered to food pantries serving communities still coping with heavy
flooding.
Before, during, and after the storm,
AmeriCares Emergency Response team reached out to partners in 8 states to
assess potential needs and establish response plans. With over 2.5 million
people still without power from the Outer Banks of North Carolina to New
England, and millions more facing a long recovery process, AmeriCares is
mobilizing resources to deliver immediate and longer term support. Read more about our new grant program to
support U.S. disaster relief.
From
Outer Banks in NC to Small Towns in Vermont, Irene Leaves Destruction
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 500-mile-wide system was
downgraded to a tropical storm by the time it reached New Jersey, but its
ferocious wind and rain caused massive flooding and widespread destruction.
Major flooding has devastated rural
areas in Vermont and upstate New York, particularly in the Catskills and
Adirondacks. A number of small towns in
Vermont and New York were completely cut off by the floods from as much as 11
inches of rain.
Though
some communities are still bracing for a wave of secondary flooding, state and
local agencies have been able to respond to urgent needs. We will continue to reach out to partners in
hard hit communities and stand ready to respond to requests for hurricane relief.
AmeriCares is approved by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501 (C) (3) tax-exempt organization, and all donations are tax deductible to the extent provided by law. AmeriCares Federal Identification Number (EIN) is 061008595.
