Moline Red Cross Volunteer Leaves For Florida - News and Weather For The Quad Cities -

Moline Red Cross Volunteer Leaves For Florida

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A Moline man is one of hundreds of trained Red Cross volunteers headed to Florida ahead of Tropical Storm Isaac. Larry Bell flew out of the Quad City International Airport around 7:00 a.m. Friday and is headed to Tampa.

Forecasters say Isaac probably won't be tagged a hurricane until Monday when it reaches the Gulf of Mexico. The National Hurricane Center projects Isaac will approach landfall in Florida on Tuesday. The Red Cross is preparing to open dozens of shelters across the state. Bell will likely help with that, but he says he's ready for anything.

"On a job like this, you just don't know what to prepare yourself for because we really don't know what kind of job we're going to have," Bell explained.

This is not Bell's first deployment for the Red Cross. He's been a volunteer for about 10 years assisting mostly with hurricane help.

There are 22 Red Cross emergency response vehicles already in Florida and 28 more are moving into the state in advance of the storm. Another 78 are on standby if needed. The Red Cross is mobilizing five truckloads of disaster supplies to send to Florida and Red Cross disaster warehouses in Georgia and Mississippi are ready to ship supplies if necessary.