COLUMBUS, Ohio — Workers and volunteers from the American Red Cross from central and southern Ohio are preparing to go and provide aid to families affected by major tornadoes overnight across several states.
A spokesperson for the Red Cross tells 10TV that emergency vehicles are being filled with supplies that will be distributed to tornado victims in Kentucky, Arkansas, Illinois, Missouri and Tennessee.
Many local volunteers are also on standby Saturday night.
“The first responsibility is to make sure that the people who have lost their homes have what somewhere to stay,” said Marita Salkowski, the regional communications director for central and southern Ohio’s Red Cross. “So we are providing shelters in those areas, not just in Kentucky where we're talking about because of the proximity. But there are actually a total of six states that were impacted by those tornadoes.”
Salkowski says volunteers from our area will be filtering into these areas for months.
“We provide sheltering, [we] will provide feeding, we provide health and mental health assistance in these early stages. Then as we move on to the recovery aspect of it, we'll provide casework this involves helping clients through that path of recovery,” said Salkowski.
In Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear has declared a state of emergency, calling the situation the most severe tornado event in the state's history. Dozens of people are believed to have died in the community of Mayfield, Kentucky.
Anyone wanting to donate to the Red Cross can click here for more information.
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
Editor's note: An earlier version of this story mentioned Ohio Task Force 1 was going to Kentucky. The group later said no resources from Ohio Task Force 1 has been sent in response to storms in Kentucky.