ORLANDO, Fla. — Central Florida Red Cross representatives are springing into action to lend a hand after tornadoes recently caused destruction in areas of the Midwest and South.
In mid-May, the deadly twisters claimed more than two dozen lives.
On Friday, Red Cross disaster relief teams will head to storm-damaged areas of Missouri to help residents.
Seven volunteers from Central Florida will be among those helping with support efforts, including long-time volunteer John Lanzetti.
Lanzetti deployed from Orlando and will spend two weeks in Missouri, using his expertise to support storm victims in many ways.
Channel 9 met up with him at the Orlando chapter of the American Red Cross just before he headed to the airport.
Aside from comforting people, Lanzetti and his team will focus on an area of older homes badly damaged near downtown St. Louis.
“We will be going building to building, assessing the damage to those buildings, and then that information will be uploaded to national headquarters,” Lanzetti said.
“We’ll make a decision on how many more people to bring in, what kind of support the community actually needs, what kind of infrastructure, and how to pass that information on to other agencies so we can get that help to the people who need it,” he added.
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