Hundreds Seek Safety in Red Cross Shelters due to Floods, Tornadoes and Wildfires

In the Unified Heart we are all one Global Family. Please send your love and assistance to our brothers and sisters in St. Louis, Texas and other parts of United States. Send the RoseLight of Healing in your next group meditations. For additional information on the Red Cross, please click on link  http://www.redcross.org/

The Following is a news brief update from the Red  Cross.

 WASHINGTON, Tuesday, April 26, 2011 — Tornadoes, flooding and wildfires continue to wreak havoc across a large part of the United States, with hundreds of people seeking refuge in American Red Cross shelters.

“This relentless weather is uprooting people from their homes and we are there with them, making sure they have a safe place to stay and food to eat,” said Charley Shimanski, senior vice president, Red Cross Disaster Services. “Our disaster teams are working tirelessly across a large part of the country to help people affected by these storms.”

More than 370 people spent Monday night in Red Cross shelters across the Midwest where driving rain and swollen rivers are threatening towns along the Mississippi and Ohio River valleys. In Arkansas, the Red Cross opened shelters after severe storms caused flooding, forcing people to evacuate from their neighborhoods. The Red Cross deployed disaster teams in Missouri, Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois where heavy rain threatened river levees and prompted the evacuation of hundreds of residents.

In Texas, wildfires have scorched more than a million acres and in addition, tornadoes touched down Monday in nine counties. More than 460 residents spent the night in Red Cross shelters. Disaster teams are assessing damages in the affected areas and providing assistance to the firefighters and those impacted by the fires and tornadoes.

The Red Cross is responding to disasters across more than half of the country as the severe and deadly weather continues. In the past two weeks, the Red Cross has opened nearly 50 shelters and provided more than 3,000 overnight stays. In addition, with community partners, the Red Cross has served more than 233,000 meals and snacks and distributed more than 20,000 items like clean-up supplies and comfort kits to people affected by the severe spring weather. Red Cross mental health and health services workers have provided thousands of consultations to people coping with the aftermath of these disasters.