N.C. Red Cross may need to change focus from Harvey to Irma

Officials with the Red Cross in North Carolina reportedly said their focus may need to move from the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey in Texas to Hurricane Irma, which could hit the East Coast.

“We put a hold on sending volunteers from the mid-Atlantic states,” Red Cross Regional Officer Barry Porter said, as reported by CBS affiliate WNCN-TV.

{mosads}“There is still a lot of other states to send volunteers from, but because of this pending threat to Florida, Georgia, South and North Carolina we’ve asked those volunteers to hold, update their records, and help us here in the Carolina’s if we need them.” 

The United States National Hurricane Center said in an advisory that it’s too soon to conclude how Irma may directly affect the mainland United States, but said it could directly impact Puerto Rico, Cuba, the Bahamas, the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, the Turks and Caicos, and Hispaniola.

Irma, a Category 3 hurricane, is predicted to impact the northeastern Leeward Islands in a few days.

Porter said the Red Cross last had to handle several hurricane threats to the United States in 2004.

“With this East Coast threat of Irma coming late this week we’re really concerned,” Porter said.

Harvey, which first made landfall on Aug. 25 as a Category 4 hurricane, has claimed the lives of more than 50 people as of Saturday, according to The Houston Chronicle.

President Trump has visited Texas twice since the storm first hit the Gulf Coast.