How To Help Those Impacted By Hurricane Florence
(CNN) -- Hurricane Florence made landfall in North Carolina on Friday, bringing damaging winds, relentless rain and storm surge. Thousands of homes have been damaged and hundreds of residents had to be rescued from the rising flood waters. More rain and flooding is expected in the days to come, as the now tropical depression slowly heads towards the Ohio Valley.
Non-profits are assisting rescue operations, helping with shelters and delivering supplies to those in need.
Facebook has activated a safety check on their Hurricane Florence crisis response page. That's where individuals can declare themselves "safe." It's also where communities can request specific supply needs or offer aid.
Other groups and individuals are responding, and are reaching out for support through crowdfunding sites.
Animal rescue group Frank's Nation has launched a campaign to cover expenses of its volunteers who are searching for dogs in the affected areas. The nonprofit has been verified by GoFundMe.
GoFundMe has also verified this campaign for Task Force 75, a team of veterans that have brought boats and supplies to Wilmington, North Carolina to help with search and rescue operations.
Caravans transporting fleets of small boats have also arrived in the Carolinas from Louisiana. These volunteers are from different groups of the Cajun Navy, a loose organization of boaters that helped with water rescues during Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Harvey. America's Cajun Navy, Louisiana Cajun Navy and the United Cajun Navy are on location to aid those in the rising flood waters.
Some volunteers and supplies for a few charities are flying into the region thanks to the non-profit Airlink, which connects humanitarian organizations with the airline industry.
Hurricane Florence has also impacted the blood supply in the region, as more than 120 blood drives have been canceled in Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. You can find updated locations to give blood through the AABB, America's Blood Centers, American Red Cross and the Armed Services Blood Program.
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