Chicagoans Ready To Help In Hurricane Zone
CHICAGO (WBBM) - Chicagoans will be helping relief and repair efforts in the hurricane zone.
No eastern seaboard community has sought assistance from the Chicago Police or Friday Departments, but the American Red Cross of Greater Chicago has deployed eight people, including its chief operating officer, and several emergency response vehicles to the hurricane zone.
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Red Cross of Greater Chicago spokesperson Erica Sterna said that Chief Operating Officer La Forice Nealy is one of those managing Red Cross disaster relief efforts in New York.
Two other Chicago-based Red Cross workers are being deployed in New York for mass care, as is one who is going to New Hampshire, one in Virginia and one in North Carolina; two other Chicago-based Red Cross workers will be working with its public affairs arm in North Carolina.
Sterna said additional personnel are ready to be deployed, depending on the need.
ComEd has dispatched more than 100 repair crews in advance of the storm to assist its sister utility PECO in the Philadelphia area, which is expected to be hit by high winds and heavy rain.
Utility spokesman Bennie Currie said that most requests for assistance in making repairs come after a storm has hit, so he expects that other utilities will request assistance, once they are able to assess the damage.
Crews from PECO and other utilities from 14 states helped out Edison this summer following major storms. ComEd dispatched some of its crews to St. Louis and to downstate Illinois this spring following tornadoes.
