SALT LAKE CITY — Jeremiah Lafranca, the executive director of the American Red Cross Greater Salt Lake Area Chapter, left Salt Lake City Monday to go help victims of flooding in Kentucky.
“The state received more than a month's worth of rain within a 24-hour period,” he said. “We have a lot of people that have been displaced, so right now we're working on seeing about recovery efforts, making sure that we're helping people get connected with long-term solutions and seeing where we can go to make sure people have next steps in mind as they recover from this disaster.”
Lafranca is joining nearly 200 Red Cross disaster workers from across the country after more than two dozen people lost their lives and more than 750 homes were damaged.
“We've had multiple response efforts going on already this year with the L.A. wildfires, with this flooding event, and also we're starting to see kind of the effects of the Carolina fires and whether or not we'll need to, what scope we'll need to deploy there,” said Lafranca.
He said the Red Cross relies on donations so they can bring food, shelter and blankets to help people recover.
“The frequency of these disasters are increasing, and so we always need volunteers that are able and willing to deploy and to support those in need," Lafranca said.
