Red Cross volunteer sees destruction of Hurricane Ian

When Kalispell’s Cassandra Loveless got back from traveling across the West this summer and fall, she had no idea her next trip would be directly into a hurricane.

Loveless, who runs her own administrative assistance business, spent 10 days in Florida volunteering with the Red Cross during and in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian.

While her deployments in Jacksonville and Wauchula kept her away from main areas of destruction caused by the hurricane, Loveless says there was still plenty to do running emergency shelters in both locations.

“It was kind of funny that I was away from Montana for all of the floods and fires this year and as soon as I get back, I go through a hurricane,” Loveless said. “It could have been a lot worse, but seeing 15 inches of rain in less than 24 hours was enough for me.”

For Loveless, it was her first out-of-state assignment with the Red Cross since she began volunteering with the organization during the pandemic lockdown in 2020.

“I was living by myself then and was feeling pretty isolated. I live just down the street from the Red Cross, so one afternoon I went to their website and found out they were looking for someone to transport blood donations from Kalispell to the main processing center in Great Falls. I figured that was Covid-friendly and a great way to help people and feel less isolated,” she said. “It was great then and it is still great now.”

Upon arrival in Tallahassee, Loveless received her assignment to an emergency shelter in Jacksonville, where she and her fellow volunteers helped the over-crowded facility as the storm made its way across the state.

“We just bunkered down and got all of the cots set up,” she said. “Luckily, the community had already been through this before and they already knew the drill, so all the cots and supplies had already been donated. It was impressive to see.”

With a week remaining in her deployment, Loveless and her team were reassigned to Wauchula, where flooding had forced more than 2,000 into a shelter at a local school.

After a long drive to reach the shelter, Loveless spent her first few hours there catching up on much-needed sleep in a bathroom before getting to know some of the displaced shelter residents.

“There was an RV park that got hit hard by the flooding, so there were a lot of the people there with nowhere to go,” Loveless said. “One guy was sleeping in his trailer and when he woke up the water was waist deep. He wound up having to be airlifted out.”

With space at a premium, Loveless and her team did what they could to assist.

“We had gotten piles of bedding and clothing donations, so people were taking whatever they could get,” she said. “Everyone’s shoes had been ruined, but luckily we had lots of donated shoes. It was good being able to help.”

As the flooding began to recede, most were able to return to their homes, but the shelter still housed more than 80 who had nowhere else to go. With the school reopening soon, a new shelter had to be found.

Loveless said the team was prepared to move everyone to a Baptist church in the area, but the structure burned down shortly before the planned move. Luckily, the group was able to secure the use of an unused public health building that met their needs.

With her deployment at an end, Loveless came home to Kalispell, where she stands ready to help again whenever needed.

“It almost felt like two different deployments, but everything went pretty well at both places.”