As of Sunday, more than 17,000 people had sought refuge from Florence in nearly 140 Red Cross and community shelters across North Carolina. With life-threatening flooding continuing in the Carolinas, the Red Cross and other non-profit organizations are actively seeking additional donations to keep the help flowing.
As shelters across the state begin to consolidate, there's a need for more space, and it shows at the Joel Coliseum shelter in Winston-Salem. On Friday, the area was a sea of calm as evacuees trickled in from eastern parts of the state. By Monday morning, it was buzzing with activity as new arrivals began registering in the lobby there.
Acting Director of Red Cross Operations Steve Wise says that inland shelter locations like this one are absorbing some of the overflow.
“I believe some of them [shelters] were at schools [and] schools started back up again today,” says Wise. “There could have been shelters that were flooded and what not. We had 15 busses that arrived I believe starting at 1:00ish last night. 323 people were added to the facility.”
That brings the total number of residents here to 466. The original 1,000-cot capacity has since been scaled back to 600 as people bring more belongings with them, which has generated the need for additional storage space. The activity level is high with about 30 Red Cross volunteers directing traffic and answering questions.
“You know, people's lives have been turned upside down, so there's a lot of questions,” says Wise. “People are asking, ‘When can I go home?' and we just tell them that we're pretty much in response mode still. So, we're trying to take care of immediate needs. You know, providing someone with a roof over their head and so on. And then I'm sure that once the storm totally clears, the recovery switch will light up.”
Wise says things have proceeded relatively smoothly, but as challenges continue, he's felt a sense of unease among some residents.
Wise says that's when services like FEMA and various other organizations will step in to provide continued assistance and begin helping them get back to the lives they left behind.