Maui County volunteers headed to Texas
Hurricane Harvey
American Red Cross volunteers James Almeida (from left), Trina Shepherd and Jim Jackson, the mass care lead for the organization’s Maui County office, meet at the Cameron Center in Wailuku on Sunday afternoon before Almeida and Shepherd departed for Texas. The American Red Cross is deploying Almeida, Shepherd, a Molokai resident whose name had not yet been released and five other volunteers from the state to aid in Hurricane Harvey response efforts. The Maui News / COLLEEN UECHI photo
Almeida
American Red Cross volunteers James Almeida (from left), Trina Shepherd and Jim Jackson, the mass care lead for the organization’s Maui County office, meet at the Cameron Center in Wailuku on Sunday afternoon before Almeida and Shepherd departed for Texas. The American Red Cross is deploying Almeida, Shepherd, a Molokai resident whose name had not yet been released and five other volunteers from the state to aid in Hurricane Harvey response efforts. The Maui News / COLLEEN UECHI photo
Almeida
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As a weakening Hurricane Harvey continued to swamp portions of southeast Texas over the weekend, three American Red Cross volunteers from Maui County packed their rain jackets and prepared to deploy to the storm-battered region.
Two Maui residents and one Molokai resident planned to fly out Sunday night and today to lend their services in Austin, about a three-hour drive west of heavily flooded Houston. A total of eight Red Cross volunteers from Hawaii were headed to Texas, according to a press release from the American Red Cross of Hawaii.
"Initially they had me scheduled for disaster assessment," volunteer James Almeida of Makawao said Sunday, several hours before his 11 p.m. flight. "But I may end up in one of the shelters filling up some area that has an immediate need. We've got to be flexible."
Harvey made landfall Friday night near Rockport, Texas, as a Category 4 hurricane with 130 mph winds. The country's biggest hurricane in 13 years brought torrential rains and wrecked properties as it made its way through southeast Texas. In Houston, the nation's fourth-largest city, The Associated Press reported that rescuers were busy pulling hundreds of people from flooded streets and homes. Some parts of Houston had received nearly 25 inches of rain by Sunday, and the National Weather Service estimated that rainfall totals could hit 50 inches by the time the storm passes.
The National Hurricane Center downgraded Harvey to a tropical storm Saturday as the system stalled near Victoria, Texas.
At least five deaths were attributed to the storm as of Sunday evening.
According to the American Red Cross, more than 1,800 people took refuge in 34 Red Cross and community shelters in Texas on Saturday night. Eight people gathered at a Louisiana shelter. The Red Cross expected the numbers of shelters and evacuees to grow. Hundreds of Red Cross volunteers from all over the country traveled to Texas to help in the disaster response efforts. One Hawaii island volunteer was already in Houston on Sunday.
Almeida joined the Red Cross as a volunteer at the beginning of the year. This will be his first deployment, but he's no stranger to disaster relief. As a master sergeant with the Air National Guard, Almeida helped ship supplies to Kauai after Hurricane Iniki struck the island in 1992. He also aided Hana residents in the wake of the 2006 earthquake that struck off the Big Island.
Tasked with disaster assessment, Almeida's role for the Red Cross in Texas could involve driving through neighborhoods and making note of the damage, based on Federal Emergency Management Agency standards. He would input data on a smartphone that gets transferred to a large database and spread out on a map, helping local and federal agencies pinpoint the hardest-hit areas. Because more rain and flooding are expected in Houston, Almeida is headed to Austin first.
"When you deploy like this, it's the stress and everything else," said Almeida, who retired from the Air National Guard in 2007 and worked for the county Department of Water Supply for 10 years. "You've got to keep it under control. Don't let it get to you."
Haiku resident and Red Cross volunteer Trina Shepherd departs for Houston today. A school counselor and licensed social worker, Shepherd will focus on the mental health of survivors.
"I talk to people who are in distress. There's always stories," Shepherd said.
A volunteer since 2011, Shepherd has deployed four times before to Texas and Louisiana, all in the aftermath of floods. In Texas, she plans to drive around with other volunteers, bringing food and cleanup kits, listening to people's stories and explaining to them some of the post-disaster symptoms they may experience. Confusion, loss of sleep and arguments are common.
"It helps to normalize their trauma," Shepherd said.
The Red Cross said it has enough shelter supplies in Texas to support 28,000 people, and that supplies for an additional 22,000 people are being sent in. Tractor-trailers have been loaded with ready-to-eat meals, comfort kits and kitchen and cleaning supplies. Blood products were sent to Houston ahead of the storm to ensure an adequate supply.
"The real heroes are the people that are in the disaster that help their neighbors and pick up after their lives," Shepherd said. "It's not that easy, and the Red Cross is wonderful, but the people that survive the disasters, they're the ones that keep going. Our hearts go out to them. That's the reason we all volunteer."
Hawaii residents can help those affected by Hurricane Harvey by making a donation at redcross.org/hawaii or by calling (808) 739-8109.
* Colleen Uechi can be reached at cuechi@mauinews.com.