Santa Barbara American Red Cross volunteer prepares for deployment to Florida post Hurricane Milton

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Over 80,000 people in Florida have had to take refuge since the landfall of Hurricane Milton, touching down just a couple short weeks after hurricane Helene made landfall in the northwestern part of Florida. And over three million people were left without power during the peak of Hurricane Milton that kept its category three status as it moved through the central part of Florida. 

"Experts estimate, in its early early estimates, it could be more, it could be less, but estimate that it caused damages around $50 billion from Hurricane Milton alone," said President Biden during a briefing this week.

Today, many lives have been lost while others are still missing. It was a historic hurricane so powerful only needing a short amount of time for destruction, but will take days and months to repair and heal. The American Red Cross has been working nonstop to provide support like food, water, shelter, relief supplies and more for those going through the unthinkable.

American Red Cross volunteer Sivani Babu will fly to Tampa Bay, Florida from Santa Barbara ready to help as soon as that plane lands.

"People are still-people still don't know exactly what the damage has been, and that's something we'll all be discovering in the weeks to come," Sivani Babu, Santa Barbara American Red Cross Volunteer.

"Our work is going to continue for weeks and months to come. Our work started before the first raindrops ever fell, before Hurricane Helene, and it will continue for quite some time," said Babu.

Babu, who has been a Red Cross volunteer since 2020, says more than 45 people from the Central California Region which includes Santa Barbara, have already been sent out to Florida.

There are many ways to help while here in Santa Barbara by donating blood or simply texting Hurricanes to 90999, and from there you'll be able to donate to the American Red Cross.