Paul Szmal: Good morning 815, it's FLX Morning Thursday, our monthly visit with Michael Tedesco from the Red Cross. Good morning. Good morning, Ted. I think this is unprecedented. I don't know that we've ever talked in the midst of such an active, dual-storm response by the Red Cross. Let's start with Helene, and from Florida to the mountains of North Carolina. So, when something like this happens, how does the Red Cross determine what needs to be done, and then get to work doing it?
Michael Tedesco: Well, it starts with a lot of surveillance and preparation. We have people whose job it is to follow these weather patterns and anticipate and monitor forecasts on an ongoing basis. So, then we'll pre-position supplies and personnel in areas that we think are going to be hardest hit. So, even before either of these storms touched ground, we already had people in what we thought were critical spots. So, that's preparation, and then we'll work with local agencies to secure shelter areas and staff them and provide all of the resources we need to take care of anyone who's been displaced from their home.
Paul Szmal: So, is that what the Red Cross does primarily, is shelter and immediate needs? Because I was thinking about, you have all the different people all converging on this area, and how do you sort out who does what?
Michael Tedesco: Yeah, actually, there are three phases. We call it disaster cycle services, and the first phase there is preparation. Then there is the immediate relief that we provide in terms of sheltering, but we also participate in the recovery process. So, we are there after things have, you know, the immediate threat of storm has passed and people are trying to put the pieces back together. We're there to help them through that, whether it's distributing cleanup kits, excuse me, to people whose homes have been flooded, doing damage assessments and helping determine, you know, what kind of compensation people are likely to receive for their loss. And, you know, in the tragic circumstances when someone has died as a result of a disaster, we provide resources to the families to make sure family members are able to fly in and attend services.
Paul Szmal: Around Asheville and the mountains of North Carolina, one of the things that happened with Helene was a lot of the roads were completely impassable. It was almost impossible to get there in the early days.
Michael Tedesco: Yeah, that certainly is one of the obstacles that we're facing in those types of areas. But as roads improve and become passable, we've got emergency response vehicles that are delivering meals to people who may have been cut off, who have been stuck at home without power. As a matter of fact, our regional executive, Nick Bond, who is based in Buffalo, is manning one of these emergency response vehicles and distributing meals in Carolina as we speak.
Paul Szmal: One of the things, sadly, that's new to what you do, or seems pretty new, is the spread of misinformation. We've just heard all kinds of things about Helene and the aftermath. How has that hampered what you're trying to do?
Michael Tedesco: I don't know that it's hampered us logistically. I think morale-wise, it's discouraging when you read such misinformation and see people repeat it. I mean, if you look at it from the perspective of our volunteers, they're leaving the warmth and safety of their home to go in storm-ravaged areas, to sleep in cots in a shelter, and be there for two weeks at a time to provide assistance. And to see some misinformation out there that puts the work of the Red Cross in a false light is discouraging. But I can assure you, any volunteer who has served in any relief operation will tell you exactly what the work we do and how visible we are in those communities that are hit.
Paul Szmal: I know that Tropicana Field in Tampa St. Petersburg was being used as a staging area for responders and the fabric roof was ripped off. Do you know if any Red Cross people were in there?
Michael Tedesco: I don't know that. I saw that very late last night at the time it hadn't even been confirmed, but since I've learned that it has happened. That may have been, and I don't want to speculate, that may have been a FEMA operation. We typically operate in smaller shelters that we have partnerships with different organizations. So it may be a church, it may be an American Legion post, or it might be a school. Those are the types of shelters that we run. Typically, we don't get involved in those huge operations where several thousand people might congregate.
Paul Szmal: In the case of North Carolina, nobody really knew until the last minute that that storm was going to take that path. In this case, this storm Milton pretty much followed the path that was expected. So explain that process of pre-positioning assets before the storm hits to be ready.
Michael Tedesco: Yes, absolutely. So before the storm hits, we obviously round up the appropriate number of volunteers that I think are going to be needed to establish sheltering operations, and we'll fly them into locations that are safe and travel from there. So I was speaking to a volunteer yesterday who was driving, I'm sorry it was two days ago, who was driving from the Orlando area to Tallahassee. So we pre-positioned truckloads of supplies and personnel to make sure that we have the resources in the areas that are going to be hit. Now the advantage if there is one to a hurricane like Milton is that it pretty much followed the predicted path. So we were likely spot on with where we needed to have resources and how many people we needed to have to be able to handle the people who are going to be looking for refuge.
Paul Szmal: A lot of people want to help right now. The best way you can do that is go to redcross.org or call 1-800-RED-CROSS. And I learned this from a Red Cross person a couple of decades ago in Massachusetts, but I want to bring it up again. That a lot of well-intentioned people will collect goods for a stricken area, but the problem with that is collecting them here, getting them there, which is a couple or three day process to Florida, and then getting them distributed. So explain to us how the Red Cross uses cash in the local community to not only help the victims, but also re-stimulate that economy that needs it.
Michael Tedesco: Yeah, you're absolutely right. We just do not have the capacity and the logistics to manage gifts of in-kind nature. There are certainly other organizations that do so, and we're always happy to provide those connections. But in this case, we're talking about multimillion, probably billion-dollar disaster here. Just the cost of operating one of our emergency response vehicles that I spoke of earlier is estimated to be $25,000 a day. And we've got five of them down there right now from our region, all five that we have, and they've been operating for probably more than a week now since Helene took its path. So without financial donations, we really don't have any other revenue streams, and to carry out our mission to provide financial assistance in some form to some of the qualifying clients who need it, it takes a huge amount of resources. So we're very dependent and thankful for the generosity of donors.
Paul Szmal: Here in the Northeast, I mean, almost all of us know somebody in Florida, and a lot of people are desperately looking for news about relatives and friends and loved ones. What kind of tips can you offer in terms of trying to find out if people are safe?
Michael Tedesco: Yeah, actually, we have one of the nicer functions that we have, and one that has been, the volume has just been incredible over the last week, is a reunification program. So if you call the Red Cross and are able to share information about the person you're looking for, so if you have a relative or a friend who was living in the Tampa area and you haven't been able to connect with them, you can connect with the Red Cross, and we in turn then take that information, survey the registrations at our shelters, work with other agencies who may be sheltering, and we can check with local hospitals. So we've performed many reunifications over the last week, literally hundreds. So again, if you call 1-800-RED-CROSS, you'll get connected to the right department to handle that. But obviously, that's a huge help to family members who may be really upset about not being able to contact their loved ones.
Paul Szmal: Again, the best way to help is through a cash donation at redcross.org or 1-800-RED-CROSS, and also go to redcross.org-volunteer. Maybe you're thinking, hey, I should be one of those people helping out, and you can volunteer.
Michael Tedesco: Michael D'Esco from the Red Cross, thanks for the time as always. It really means something this month, and thank all those people from New York that are helping out during these twin disasters. Thank you, Ted.
