Tri-Cities Volunteers On the Way to Hurricane Zone

Three volunteers with the American Red Cross left Greene County, Tennessee, this morning.  They’re traveling to Texas to await further instructions for helping residents after Hurricane Dolly makes landfall.

“We have our Emergency Response Vehicle and volunteers on standby as well,“ said Glenda Bobalik, Executive Director of the American Red Cross of Northeast Tennessee.  Bobalik said four volunteers are ready to go with the so-called ERV based in Kingsport.

Here’s the latest on the storm from the Associated Press as of 11:07 a.m. Wednesday:

  BROWNSVILLE, Texas (AP) - Hurricane Dolly has been gaining
strength as it nears the Texas and Mexico Gulf coasts.
    The hurricane is now a Category 2 storm, packing winds of 100
miles per-hour.
    A hurricane warning was in effect for the southern coast of
Texas from Brownsville to Corpus Christi and in Mexico from Rio San
Fernando northward.
    In Mexico, fields are filling with water, palm trees are bending
over in the wind and beaches are closed. In Texas, early reports
say the storm has damaged an apartment complex on South Padre
Island, and knocked out electricity to thousands.
    Landfall is expected around midday. Forecasters warn that Dolly
could bring up to 15 inches of rain. The big concern is the
downpour that could lead to flooding and breach levees in the
heavily populated Rio Grande Valley.