Prepare and Respond

Video Credit: WAAY ABC Huntsville, AL
Published on September 19, 2020 -
Prepare and respond

Prepare and Respond

New at five - members the huntsville volunteer group "prepare and respond" lef early this morning to begin helping those along the alabama coast impacted by hurricane sally.

The crew has only been there a few hours, but they tell us the damage is much worse than expected.

Waay 31's casey albritton learned more about the damage.... and the groups plans to deploy even more volunteers.

Volunteers tell me heavy duty equipment still fills this warehouse, because the trip today is to focus on assessing what kind of help people need... they're in foley, alabama today, where may people still are without power danny walker/ volunteer "we didn't expect one to hit our home-state so soon after being in louisiana."

Ronald jennings/ volunteer "we just got back from hurricane laura, so we are having to do maintenance on our equipment."

Prepare and respond volunteers say once they get back from the assessment trip, they will focus on replacing equipment parts that were previously damaged when they responded to hurricane laura less than a month ago.

Ronald jennings/ volunteer "sharpening chains, servicing the skid steer..."

Monday night, the group will make another trip-- to help people impacted by hurricane sally-- ronald jennings/ volunteer "ripping out the interior of homes.

You have to remove all the dry-wall, all the flooring, everything down to the studs."

Volunteer, ronald jennings, says he expects to help repair homes that have been flooded.

Ronald jennings/ volunteer "the goal is to leave the house where a contractor can go in later and just start rebuilding."

Volunteers tell me they are also finding out what safety precautions can be enforced the coast, before bringing a more people on the trip.

Ronald jennings/ volunteer "we had to sort of restrict the size of our team because you can't cram as many people into a church when you're social distancing."

Even with a limited volunteer group, prepare and respond says it will do all it can to help.

Ronald jennings/ volunteer "it breaks your heart to see people at their lowest.

It's their worst day when you show up, but typically when you show up, that brings hope, and you start to see smiles again."

Danny walker/ volunteer "we certainly want to help our neighbors."

The group is collecting monetary donations to buy gift cards for families who have lost their belongings.

To help, you can go to our website at waay tv dot com.

Live in huntsville, casey albritton, waay 31 news.

That group isn't the only local one helping with the sally recovery.

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