12/01/2009

The Red Cross has ramped up efforts to prepare for possible flooding in the Green River Valley, south of Seattle. The agency has fast–tracked training for hundreds of volunteers to work in emergency shelters.

About 40 people are here in a classroom at Red Cross’s King County headquarters in Seattle’s Rainier District. The group ranges from retirees to college students.

They’re all here to join the agency’s “Reserve Corps” program. It was specifically set up to train volunteers in case of a major flood in the Kent Valley. The Howard Hanson dam there is damaged, so much so that it poses a risk of widespread flooding.

If that happens, the Red Cross estimates up to 6,000 people could need shelter. And the agency would need hundreds of volunteers to keep the shelters running.

Ivy Davis Zolle is Red Cross’s Volunteer Manager. She’s heading up this recruiting effort.

Zolle: “I wasn’t concerned that we could find volunteers, because if there is a disaster, I know that people want to volunteer. But because there is a bit of a process and we prefer that people are trained, we sort of thought, well, how can we speed this up a little bit?”

Davis Zolle hustles around the room making sure everyone has their paperwork.

To get people trained quicker, they shortened the class from two days, to just one. Volunteers are guided through a mountain of forms, applications, and background checks.

Zolle: “We’re helping with the references, and doing things like badging them taking their pictures. So that when we need to pull that trigger, it’s a complete package. They can pretty much walk into our shelter.”

So far, the Red Cross has trained more than 200 volunteers for Green River shelters. And it hopes to have 350 trained by mid–December.

One of today’s trainees is Wilbur Chin. He lives in Kent — right in the flood zone. He’s gotten in the habit of asking his neighbors — and nearly everyone he meets — if they have a preparedness kit with things like water, canned food and a flashlight.

Chin: “They say no, and again I suggest them to just have a preparedness kit or an emergency kit ready. Even if we don’t have a flood, still you have something ready to, you know, assist other neighbors.”

Chin: “I have a question: Do you have a preparedness kit?”

Reporter: “You’re asking me if I’m prepared, if I have a preparedness kit?”

Chin: “Even if you live in Seattle, even if you live in a bigger city, you always got to prepare yourself for any disaster.”

Chin says the images of Hurricane Katrina inspired him to get some emergency training. And he wants this Red Cross training so he can be ready to help his neighbors, many of whom are low–income.

Another volunteer, Barbara Galstad, works for King County. She and her coworkers think a strong sense of community is important to pull people through a major disaster. They asked themselves if King County has that kind of community.

Galstad: “And the general feeling was no. People don’t know their neighbors. People aren’t involved in their community. People are too busy. People are, you know, just rush, rush, rush.”

But the turnout at this training left Galstad more optimistic. Most people here don’t know anyone in the Green River Valley. Like Galstad, they just want to help.

Galstad: “Whether it’s feeding people or helping people get settled or answering questions. It’s just that this is something that I have that I can give. I don’t have much money, but I do have myself.”

Recently, the Army Corps of Engineers finished some initial repairs to the Howard Hanson Dam. That greatly reduced the risk of flooding in the Green River Valley from a 1 in 3 chance to just a 1 in 25 chance. But the flood risk will likely persist for several years until the dam is fully repaired.

I’m Liz Jones, KUOW News.

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