BATON ROUGE, La. - Area American Red Cross volunteers are presently hunkered down in Baton Rouge, La., on Thursday morning as Hurricane Laura rips through the region.
Hurricane Laura hit the Gulf Coast as a Category 4 storm, making landfall around 1 a.m. with 150 mph wind speeds Thursday near Cameron, La. Cameron, La., is 35 miles east of the Texas line.
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Dennis Grooms, of St. Louis, is one of the Red Cross volunteers staged close to the prime hurricane disaster point.
Grooms reported Thursday morning all the Red Cross volunteers from the St. Louis region are “safe” and waiting for the storm to slow before they proceed to their important work. Grooms has been an American Red Cross volunteer for five years. He has spent his working career as a firefighter/EMT, so he is specially trained for these types of missions.
“We are about an hour and 45 minutes away from Cameron, Louisiana, which appears hardest hit,” he said. “We will probably go out tomorrow, but we are hunkered down right now.
Reports were that Lake Charles, La., was hit hard, with widespread destruction. It was reported roofs were taken off, buildings destroyed and lamp posts and trees thrown to the streets. The hurricane now seems to be moving upward to Arkansas and Tennessee.
So far we are seeing extreme damage in some areas with less damage in others, so the situation may be better than what was expected.”
Grooms said he enjoys his volunteer work with the Red Cross. All of the volunteers from the region have a common goal: “To help out their fellow citizens, taking care of their needs.”
Grooms plans to give Riverbender.com updates and photographs during his time volunteering on the Gulf Coast.
If you have photos or any family member or friend in the area hit by the hurricane, please provide Riverbender.com contact information and any photos if possible. Send info to news@riverbender.com or text 618-623-5930.
