The phone call came Friday.
Balbi Brooks then spent the weekend packing and finalizing details. On Monday, the 72-year-old Waimea resident was en route to Texas to assist the American Red Cross in Hurricane/Tropical Storm Harvey relief efforts.
“Once they call you, you drop everything,” Brooks said Monday morning, about an hour before leaving for the airport. “You spend all day making phone calls, canceling appointments, watering plants, and then off you go. You have to be really flexible.”
Brooks is one of five Hawaii Island-based Red Cross volunteers — among 13 statewide — headed east this week to assist residents in Texas and Louisiana displaced by the storm.
Tens of thousands of residents have been forced to evacuate since Friday evening when Harvey slammed into southeastern Texas as a Category 4 hurricane. Parts of Texas have been drenched with nearly 3 feet of rain, which has caused widespread flooding.
The Red Cross estimates at least 6,000 people stayed in dozens of shelters throughout Texas and Louisiana on Sunday night. Mega-shelters — which can house as many as 1,500 people — were being opened in Houston, Dallas and Austin.
More than 4,000 Red Cross volunteers from throughout the country are expected to be on the ground by today, though many are first being routed to Austin and Dallas because the Houston airport is closed.
Heavy rain is predicted to continue this week.
“This will be a very long operation for the Red Cross,” said Kailua-Kona resident Marty Moran in a phone interview Monday. Moran is a Red Cross volunteer who overseas security and safety for the organization.
“It will be very similar to (hurricanes) Katrina and Sandy,” he said. The relief effort for “Katrina went on for almost seven months; Sandy went on for around six.”
Moran, who flew to Houston on Thursday and expects to stay at least six weeks, said about seven shelters are open nearby. He said many Houston-area restaurants and gas stations are low on inventory, and flooded roads halted travel in and around the city.
“The hardest part for volunteers here is that they want to do something to help people, but they can’t get anywhere,” Moran said. “The frustration is because of the weather, and it’s just very difficult to get around. By next week, I’m guessing there will be 3,000 people from Red Cross in the state. But right now, we can’t get them in.”
The storm also impacted Keaau native Andy Narido Jr., a 30-year-old Hilo High School alum who moved to Texas for college and now works at an oil and gas company in Houston. Narido said he’s been stranded at a friend’s house in a Houston suburb since Saturday, when he drove over to watch the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor fight.
“Every possible route home is flooded, and I don’t want to take the chance,” he said via Facebook.
Late Monday, Narido said he was itching to go home but felt fortunate to have shelter.
“It’s all good,” he said. “Nothing compared to what others are going through. I really wish I could help out in some way, but I’m stuck for the time being.”
Hilo native Van Tolar, 52, who now lives about 30 miles outside Houston, described the rain that came during the weekend as “torrential” and “apocalyptic.” He said he also thinks the aftermath of the storm could cause oil and gas prices to spike.
“I think there will be a serious impact,” Tolar said by phone Monday, speaking about the area being home to several oil refineries. “The more assistance the country can give us now, the more it will help everybody down the road. This hurricane didn’t just hit us, it’s going to hit everybody, I think, in a financial way down the road, unless we can help Houston get up on its feet as soon as possible.”
Red Cross volunteers are deployed to different duties. Brooks said she’d be feeding residents in emergency shelters, though her job could change at a moment’s notice. She said she was prepared to stay at least two weeks, depending on need.
Brooks said her mom was a Red Cross volunteer during World War II, and the job — though emotionally taxing at times — is rewarding.
“It can be an emotional roller coaster,” she said. “You’re excited to help out, but at the same time it’s like, ‘What am I getting myself into?’ But once I’m there, the adrenaline kicks in, and you do what you can for your fellow man.”
How to help: donate online to the American Red Cross’ Harvey relief efforts at: www.redcross.org/hawaii or by calling 1-800-RED CROSS. You can also text the word HARVEY to 90999 to make a $10 donation.
Email Kirsten Johnson at kjohnson@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
