Three American Red Cross volunteers from Eastern South Dakota, along with an Emergency Response Vehicle, will be heading to Louisiana for the next few weeks to assist with the flood response.
The Red Cross says Brindia Hall, of Sioux Falls, Rich Rhoades of Sioux Falls, and Rex Tollefson of Hitchcock, will be leaving Monday morning to assist with sheltering and feeding operations for at least two weeks.
“This is an extremely chaotic situation right now, with life-threatening flood waters, power outages and road closures complicating relief efforts – as many local volunteers have also been directly affected by the flooding,” said Jennifer Ross, Red Cross Executive Director in Eastern South Dakota. “The Red Cross is mobilizing a massive relief effort which could be our largest since Hurricane Sandy.”
UPDATE: Dozens in shelter in Mississippi from flooding
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - The head of the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency says 56 people remain in a shelter because their homes are flooded.
Executive director Lee Smithson says he expects them to be able to return to the Wilkerson County community of Crosby on Monday to check out and begin mucking out their homes. Crosby is about 15 miles from the Mississippi River and about 60 miles from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Smithson says the shelter 15 miles away in Natchez could remain open a week or more.
He says extensive damage assessments will begin Monday morning.
He says a swift water rescue team from Gulfport is in Louisiana to help with rescues, and two Mississippi National Guard helicopter crews were about to leave in their Chinook aircraft Sunday.
Meanwhile, the low pressure system that triggered the heavy rain and flooding along the Gulf Coast, especially in Louisiana, has moved into Texas.
But forecasters warn there's still danger of fresh floods, as swollen rivers drain toward the Gulf of Mexico.