The Salvation Army in Connecticut & Rhode Island on standby to assist with Hurricane Ian
Author: DeAndria Turner
Published: 5:24 PM EDT September 28, 2022
Updated: 5:44 PM EDT September 28, 2022
HARTFORD, Conn. — As the sun shines here in Connecticut, people in Florida are living in a land of intense winds and rains as Hurricane Ian bears down on the coast.
“People here they are generally, they are prepared. A lot of people are doing sandbags and a lot of prep. I haven’t seen any national guard. I have seen the coast guard flying,” said FOX61’s photographer Pedro Rivera.
Rivera is stationed an hour north of Tampa to help our sister station with continuing coverage in the middle of the storm.
“We were supposed to go to Kissimmee and they kind of changed that plan. They couldn’t find us a hotel. All the hotels are booked in the path of the hurricane so we’re staying at the hotel that’s safe where we’re at now,” said Rivera.
Everyone preparing for the impact this hurricane is going to leave behind. Crews here in Connecticut are also waiting for the green light to go help, like Linda Johansen with the American Red Cross
“I’m coming from a situation up here where we’re not in a disaster and those folks are going to be suffering for quite some time. Whatever we can do to help them is going to be great, I think. So you just put your stuff on hold and ready to assist any way that you can,” said Johansen.
The Salvation Army is on call to deploy for assistance too.
“We’ll mobilize whether it’s driving our disaster food trucks down with trained teams. Whether it’s flying down to the nearest airport that’s still accessible and then from there we go to the area’s where there's the most need,” said Regional Emergency Disaster Services Director, Chris Farrand.
The overarching message is they are ready to help.
“Everyone hopes for the best but preparing for what can be catastrophic damage in some of these areas,” said Farrand.
DeAndria Turner is a multi-media journalist at FOX61 News. She can be reached at dturner@fox61.com.