Red Cross Continues to Help as Debby Heads North

Hundreds of American Red Cross disaster workers continue to help people in the Southeast impacted by Debby as the storm threatens millions of people from the Carolinas to New England with heavy rain and tornado warnings.

The Red Cross declared a national blood emergency on August 5 but Debby is also complicating efforts to rebuild the nation's blood supply, forcing blood drives to be canceled, causing hundreds of lifesaving blood products to go uncollected. We urge those in unaffected areas who are eligible to make an appointment to give as soon as possible.

HOW TO HELPPeople urgently need aid now. You can help by making a financial donation or an appointment to give blood or platelets by visiting redcross.orgor calling 1-800-RED CROSS (800-733-2767).

RED CROSS RESPONSE More than 900 American Red Cross disaster workers have deployed to multiple states in the southeast or are working virtually to help people affected by Debby.

Thursday night, in coordination with our partners, 14 emergency shelters were open in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas where nearly 130 people sought refuge from the storm. We anticipate shelter locations and the number of people seeking help will continue to rapidly change over the next few days as Debby continues to impact multiple states with heavy rain.

In some areas, the Red Cross is providing basic health services in the shelters and helping to replace items such as eyeglasses and prescription medications. Red Crossers are also visiting some of the hardest hit areas, offering hot meals and relief supplies for people beginning to clean up.

To help better understand what help families may need in the coming days and weeks, the Red Cross is working with local officials to assess residential damage left behind by Debby.

FIND A SHELTER Anyone who needs a safe place to stay or a warm meal can find shelter information on redcross.org, the free Red Cross Emergency app or by calling 1-800-RED CROSS (800-733-2767). You can also find shelters by following your local Red Cross and local emergency officials on social media, or by monitoring local news.

We do everything we can to accommodate service animals and domesticated pets comfortably in our shelters. Sometimes, depending on the situation, pets may need to be housed in a different location with support from local partners.

Download the free Red Cross Emergency app for real-time weather alerts, open shelter locations and expert advice in both English and Spanish. Find all of the Red Cross apps in smartphone app stores by searching for the American Red Cross or going to redcross.org/apps.

Find safety information for power outages, flooding and other emergencies here.

CLIMATE CRISIS This hurricane season is off to a dramatic start with Hurricane Beryl becoming the earliest Category 5 storm ever recorded, quickly followed by Hurricane Debby and its significant flooding.All signs indicate that 2024 could become one of the busiest hurricane seasons on record, especially with the peak of the season still to come.

The climate crisis is impacting the frequency and intensity of disasters like Hurricane Debby.

Debby has been able to generate such heavy rainfall, in part, because of its slow speed - a crawl of about 3 mph at one time. Scientists have identified a connection between the trend of slow-moving Atlantic Hurricanes and the climate crisis. Overall, the Red Cross is responding to twice as many major disasters as we did a decade ago to help families and communities struggling with more frequent and intense disasters.

Annual Disaster Giving Program (ADGP)Through the generosity of our American Red Cross Annual Disaster Giving Program (ADGP) and Disaster Responder members, the American Red Cross is prepared before disaster strikes. ADGP and Disaster Responder members help secure a reliable funding base for disaster relief services that enables the Red Cross to respond immediately, meeting the needs of individuals and families affected by disaster, regardless of cost.

ADGP $1M Members: Amazon; American Airlines; Anheuser-Busch Foundation; Bank of America; Caterpillar Foundation; The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints; CMA CGM Foundation; Costco Wholesale; Delta Air Lines; Elevance Health Foundation; Enterprise Mobility Foundation; FedEx; Lilly Endowment Inc.; Lowe's Companies, Inc.; McDonald's Corporation; Merck; Microsoft; Nationwide Foundation; The Pfizer Foundation; The Starbucks Foundation; State Farm; Takeda; Truist Foundation; VSP Vision; Walmart and the Walmart Foundation; Wells Fargo

ADGP $500k Members: Altria Group; American Express; Aon; Bread Financial; Capital One; Chick-fil-A; Citi Foundation; The Clorox Company; Danaher Foundation; Darden Foundation; Delta Dental; DHL Supply Chain; Edison International; Energy Transfer/Sunoco Foundation; Ford Motor Company Fund; Fox Corporation; General Motors; Google.org; HCA Healthcare; The Home Depot Foundation; The J.M. Smucker Company; Johnson Controls Foundation; Kaiser Permanente; The Kraft Heinz Company Foundation; The Kroger Co. Foundation; Liberty Mutual Insurance; Mastercard; Mondelēz International Foundation; New Balance Foundation; Paul Davis Restoration; PayPal; PepsiCo Foundation; PetSmart Charities; Salesforce; Southeastern Grocers Gives Foundation & Southeastern Grocers, Harveys Supermarket and Winn-Dixie; Stryker; Target; The TJX Companies, Inc.; Toyota; United Airlines; UPS; USAA; U.S. Bank Foundation; Visa Foundation; The Walt Disney Company; The Wawa Foundation; Wesco; Zoetis

Disaster Responder Members: 7-Eleven Cares Foundation; Adobe; The AES Corporation; ALDI; American Tire Distributors; American Water Charitable Foundation; Ameriprise Financial; Assurant; AvalonBay Communities, Inc.; Avangrid Foundation; Barclays; Bath & Body Works; Big 5 Sporting Goods; Build-A-Bear Foundation; Canadian National Railroad Association; CarMax; CDW; Charles Schwab Foundation; Cisco Foundation; CNA Insurance; The Coca-Cola Foundation; The Deluxe Foundation; The DICK'S Sporting Goods Foundation; Discover; Dollar General; Dollar Tree and Family Dollar; Duke Energy; Equitable; FirstEnergy Corporation; Harbor Freight Tools Foundation, LLC; Hewlett Packard Enterprise Foundation; HP Foundation; International Paper; Invitation Homes; Keurig Dr Pepper; Kimberly-Clark Corporation; L'Oréal; The Labcorp Charitable Foundation; Lenovo Foundation; LKQ; Lockheed Martin Corporation; Macy's, Inc.; Major League Baseball; Marathon Petroleum Corporation; Martin Marietta; Masco; Mattress Firm; McKesson Foundation; MetLife Foundation; Neiman Marcus Group; NextEra Energy, Inc.; Norfolk Southern; Northrop Grumman Foundation; Northwestern Mutual; Novartis; Old Dominion Freight Line; Pacific Life Foundation; Phillips 66; Prudential; Raymond James; RBC Foundation USA; Reckitt; Reliance, Inc.; Reynolds American Inc.; RTX; Ryder System, Inc.; Santander; Security Finance's Lending Hand Foundation; ServiceNow; Southwest Airlines; Stanley Black & Decker; Stephen's Inc.; Tata Consultancy Services; U-Haul International; Ulta Beauty; U.S. Foods; Yum! Brands; Zurich

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