North Texans are stepping up once again to help in recovery efforts following Hurricane Milton’s landfall. NBC 5’s Katy Blakey reports organizations already involved in Helene clean up are now readying teams for Florida.
As recovery efforts continue from Hurricane Helene, disaster response teams are preparing for Hurricane Milton’s landfall in Florida and Texans continue to meet the challenge.
Texans On Mission are readying for their 16th deployment this year. Their trucks are loaded with supplies to help those most in need following another hurricane.
“The last few weeks have been tough on us but our people are resilient,” said David Wells, director of disaster relief for Texans On Mission.
The nonprofit already has more than 100 volunteers helping with Helene recovery in Tennessee and North Carolina.
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Wednesday morning another team of volunteers and trucks will depart Dallas for Florida.
“Some of our volunteers have been in those storms, have been in those situations so they know what it feels like to be helpless and hopeless in that situation and we just want to bring that help, hope and healing to them,” Wells said.
Their trucks are equipped to serve 10,000 meals a day and help clear flooded homes, similar to the operations they’ve been doing for days following Helene.
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Texas-based Operation Airdrop is ready to help, too.
“There is no normal for any of these storms. Everyone is completely different with a completely different set of challenges,” said Alex Clark, Executive Director of Operation Airdrop.
Their volunteer fleet of pilots and planes was organized to provide relief after Hurricane Harvey in 2017.
Helene just marked their biggest operation.
Volunteers flew 1.2 million pounds of life-saving water, food and supplies to mountain communities cut off by landslides. The organization also received 30,000 requests for search and rescue which they were able to help with using volunteer helicopter pilots.
“We just do this because we see there’s a need and we know that we can help,” Clark said.
