Bethel Volunteer Joins Team of Florence Relief Responders

BETHEL, CT — A local woman is deploying with the Red Cross to aid the relief efforts for the storm Florence, now classified as a tropical depression.

Joyce Burns, of Bethel, will work as a disaster mental health service associate in Columbia, S.C. Volunteer mental health and health services professionals have provided some 5,500 contacts to provide support and care to evacuees.

The Red Cross is providing safe shelter and comfort for evacuees across six states. More than 15,000 people sought refuge in more than 150 Red Cross and community shelters Sunday night across the impacted region. This includes at least 14,200 people in 137 shelters in North Carolina and 819 people in 9 shelters in South Carolina.

About 3,000 Red Cross disaster workers from all over the country have been mobilized to help shelter, feed and support people affected by Florence. The Red Cross is mobilizing nearly 130 emergency response vehicles and more than 70 trailers of equipment and supplies, including ready-to-eat meals and enough cots and blankets for more than 100,000 people.

Image via National Hurricane Center