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Red Cross Responds as Severe Winter Weather Impacts California

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This information was last updated on Friday, March 24 at 9:30 a.m. Please check back regularly for updates.

March 22, 2023. Red Cross Warehouse, Alameda, California. American Red Cross volunteers, Lisa Wright-Bishop and Vicki McNeil, load cleanup supplies to be distributed to residents affected by the California Atmospheric River Event. Photo by Jaka Vinsek/American Red Cross

Much of California continues its recovery from yet another round of intense rain and wind earlier this week.

Thursday night 732 people took refuge in 17 Red Cross and partner shelters statewide. Within our region, 530 people were supported in 11 shelters.

The American Red Cross has been helping in California since the atmospheric river onslaught began in late December of last year and is currently responding all over the state alongside local and state officials to help ensure people get the assistance they need.

For an updated map of road/lane closures, please visit the CalTrans QuickMap. Check your route before heading out!

Shelters

The following shelters are open in anticipation of forecast weather and potential for flooding. Open shelters may also be found online at redcross.org/shelter.

Monterey County

Santa Cruz County

San Joaquin County

  • Manteca Senior Center, 295 Cherry Lane, Manteca CA 95337

Stanislaus County:

  • Salvation Army, Red Shield Community Center, 1649 Las Vegas St, Modesto, CA 95358
  • Stanislaus Fairgrounds–RV Grounds Outdoor Shelter, 800 N. Broadway Ave, Turlock, CA 95380


Everyone is welcome at Red Cross shelters, and anyone affected by the extreme weather can always stop by the shelter to access Red Cross services, warm up, and contact loved ones regardless of whether or not they choose to stay overnight at the shelter.

Donating Items at Shelters

Please do not drop off items like blankets, toys, food, etc. at Red Cross shelters. We appreciate everyone’s desire to help during a disaster, but the Red Cross does not have the capacity to accept, process, clean, organize or distribute these items. We work with our partners to procure items for our shelters and ensure everyone who comes to our shelters has everything they need.

Stay Up-to-Date on Social Media

Updated information on the Red Cross response to this storm, and preparedness information is updated regularly on our regional social media channels:

Sign up to volunteer

While trained Red Cross volunteers and staff continue to manage the response efforts, we are looking for additional volunteers to help with disaster response and recovery activities. Apply online to become a Red Cross volunteer by visiting redcross.org/volunteertoday if you are interested in helping with this response or responses like this in the future.

Blood During Disasters

The Red Cross is working to maintain a stable blood supply amid the threat of storms and winter weather across the country, as severe weather often causes widespread blood drive cancellations. Where it is safe to do so, we encourage donors to make and keep blood donation appointments by using the Red Cross Blood Donor App, visiting RedCrossBlood.org or calling 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767).

Disaster Mental Health Team: tips to improve coping skills after repeat disasters

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photo by Barbara Wood / American Red Cross

American Red Crosser Jeff Roediger has some tips for coping with the anxiety and other effects of stress caused by the series of severe atmospheric river storms (currently 11 and counting) that have slammed California this winter. 

Roediger says that events such as disasters and evacuations, especially those that occur more than once, “are mentally, physically and spiritually draining.” Such events can create a sense of loss or grief over things already lost, fear for life or safety, even hopelessness, he says.

Among the thoughts and behaviors that can appear, Roediger says, are anger, cognitive difficulties such as not being able to think clearly, racing thoughts, the desire to isolate ones self, or bad coping skills such as using drugs or alcohol or risky behavior.

Here are some of Roediger’s tips:

1  –  Keep in touch with family and friends.  
“Talk to somebody about the event. Don’t bottle it up,” Roediger, a professional counselor from South Carolina on his 30th disaster response assignment, says.

“The more we talk about it, the more we normalize it,” he says.  “It becomes part of our life and it no longer it has power over us.”  

2 -If you know someone who has suffered from a disaster Listen to what the person has to say.
”Just let them talk,” Roediger says. “People want to be heard.”  

3  – Distract yourself 
If you find yourself unable to stop thinking about the disaster, find something else to do Roediger says.  Listen to music, draw, write, go for a walk, make a gratitude list.

4 – If you have suffered a loss in a disaster, make a list of things you must do to recover.
“Let the list sit for a time and then prioritize each item. Lists help move focus to the future, not the past,” he says. 

5 – Anyone stressed by a disaster can ask to speak to a Red Cross counselor, free of charge.
 The Red Cross also partners with the free SAMHSA Disaster Distress helpline, where a trained counselor is available 24 hours a day at (800) 985-5990. 

The Heart of the Mission: Red Cross Volunteers Assess California Storm Damage

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Story and Photos by Marcia Antipa, Public Affairs Volunteer

Joe Baldi and Dianna Soula inspect damaged Marin County building
Photo by Marcia Antipa / American Red Cross volunteer

After weeks of heavy rain and high winds, the sun has come out again in California. However, the American Red Cross disaster response continues. More than 800 trained Red Cross volunteers from nearly all 50 states have been supporting people in the affected communities. Eighty shelters were opened during the disaster, and the Red Cross, working with community partners, distributed thousands of meals and relief items such as comfort kits and cleaning supplies. Now, as people slowly move toward recovery, volunteer Red Cross Disaster Assessment Teams are spreading out through storm-ravaged communities, taking stock of damage to homes.

“The assessment gives us information on the homes that were destroyed or had major damage,” says DA volunteer Joe Baldi of Sacramento.

Baldi and fellow volunteer Dianna Soula of Lancaster, Ohio recently visited an apartment complex in Marin County, California.  During the heavy rains, a mud-soaked hillside slammed into one of the buildings, making it uninhabitable. The two walked through thick mud to view the home, then documented the damage using guidelines from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). That information helps the Red Cross and its partner agencies provide assistance for those displaced by the disaster.

Al Gharibian and Howard Wilkens doing Disaster Assessment in Guerneville
Photo by Marcia Antipa /
American Red Cross

Right now, more than a dozen of Disaster Assessment teams have “boots on the ground” in California. Volunteers Howard Wilkens of Kansas City, MO and Alan Gharibian of Glendale, CA, took a preliminary Disaster Assessment tour of the Sonoma County town of Guerneville along the Russian River. After days of heavy rain, the river was swollen, muddy and threatening to crest its banks. The two men visited the Guerneville Fire Department to get information on which neighborhoods were hardest hit. Wilkens, who has deployed for the Red Cross to 30 disasters across the country in five years, explains just some of the damage they look for after a storm.

“For example, we look for water lines on the side of the house, broken joists on the roof decking, or homes where the winds have blown off the siding or the roof shingles.”

Alan Gharibian recently deployed to Hurricanes Nicole and Ian in Florida. He says the devastation and the suffering in the wake of the hurricanes was “heartbreaking, to say the least.” But he says he is happy to volunteer again, using his 37 years of experience in the insurance business to help assess the damage in California.

Ultimately, Disaster Assessment volunteers are the heart of the Red Cross mission to prevent and alleviate human suffering in the face of emergencies.

“It’s the Red Cross’s goal to assist them in any way they can,” says Dianna Soula, “to get them into a recovery state, someplace where they’re safe, have comforts and feeding, and medication that they needed, and just try to get their life back on track as quickly as we can.”

To find out how you can help those hit by the California storms, visit redcross.org.

When they needed shelter, the Red Cross was there 

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Photos and reporting by Barbara Wood/Red Cross volunteer 

Red Cross volunteer Debbie Torres of San Mateo, California, talks to Jose Galvan Alvarez and his grandson Kingston in a Red Cross shelter.
Photo by Barbara Wood/Red Cross volunteer 

The Galvan Alvarez family was sound asleep in their South San Francisco apartment in the early hours of January 10 when they were jolted awake as the entire roof blew off their apartment building.  

“At first we thought it was an earthquake,” Jose Galvan Alvarez said, holding his nine-month-old grandson, Kingston, in a Red Cross shelter at the San Mateo County Event Center. Water from one of the series of major storms that have been pounding California started pouring in through ceiling light fixtures, he said. 

The family called the fire department, which quickly responded and referred them to the nearby Red Cross shelter that had been opened to provide refuge from the storm for all who needed it. The family arrived at about 4 a.m. and were provided supplies, such as diapers, food and toiletries, as well as a portable cot for Kingston and warm beds for the rest of the family. In the morning they had warm showers and breakfast.  

“The Red Cross has been excellent,” Jose said. “I’ve got nothing but nice things to say about the Red Cross.” Jose said he had also been helped by the Red Cross years ago, when he had a fire in his apartment. Jose then excused himself to grab a broom and dustpan and clean up around his family’s cots. “The Red Cross is helping, so I can help, too,” he said. 

The atmospheric rivers that pounded California for weeks, with floodwaters and damage remaining long after the storms have subsided. At one point there were as many as 100,000 people in California under evacuation orders or warnings.

Now that the skies have cleared, individuals and families are returning home to evaluate their path back towards recovery. Hundreds of Red Cross disaster workers are continuing to safely shelter those in need, deliver hot food and relief supplies to impacted neighborhoods, and provide much-needed emotional support.

For many, the road to recovery will be long – and the Red Cross will stand with survivors in the weeks and months ahead as they begin to rebuild their lives. You can help people by:

  • Making a financial gift to California Storms and Floods. Donations for Disaster Relief enable the Red Cross to prepare for, respond to and help people recover from disasters big and small. Visit redcross.org, call 1-800-RED CROSS, or text the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation.
  • Sharing Red Cross updates through your social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or LinkedIn).
  • Becoming a Red Cross volunteer: http://tinyurl.com/ARC2023FloodsApplication

“I had nothing the next day.” – Advice from a home fire survivor

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By Alex Keilty

Photo courtesy of Minh Tran

“I ran out of my house with slippers – that’s everything,” says Minh Tran. “I had nothing the next day.” 

On a night in November 2019, a fire spread from Minh’s fireplace to engulf his home in Gilroy. While his family made it out alive, the house was totally destroyed.

Minh knows how close he came to losing his family and credits the house’s smoke alarms for saving their lives. “Without the alarm we might be dead,” he says.

Now as an American Red Cross Community Volunteer Leader, Minh is determined to raise awareness of the need to be prepared for home fires and other disasters.

“In this area we have earthquakes, wildfires, flooding, home fires, power outages,” Minh says. “From my experience of the fire, I know the need to be better prepared.”

Minh’s advice? Install working smoke alarms, make sure to have adequate home insurance, and keep a disaster kit ready to go.

“Everybody should have a disaster kit in the home – water and food for three days – so when disaster hits they can grab that bag and run,” says Minh.

Joining the Red Cross last year, he has been acting as a liaison with the Vietnamese community. Minh came to San José from Vietnam 28 years ago to reunite with his family and live in this area since. 

This year, he helped recruit volunteers from his community for Sound the Alarm, a program of the Red Cross to provide home fire safety education and install free smoke alarms in local homes.

“Volunteering is fun and fulfilling,” he says. And he recommends more people from the Vietnamese community join him in furthering the Red Cross mission.

To find out more about volunteering for the Red Cross, please visit redcross.org.  

Looking back on 2021

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Please join us as we say goodbye to 2021 with a look back at some of our favorite stories of the year from all of our lines of service.

Service to the Armed Forces

Lisa Ann Rohr was one of nine Red Cross SAF Mobile personnel who left the U.S. for overseas duty from August 2020 to April 2021. Lisa Ann was one of two Red Crossers initially stationed in Iraq, at the diplomatic post Baghdad Diplomatic Support Center (BDSC).

She says: “My entire ‘boots on the ground’ experience providing virtual services in Emergency Communications Messaging Delivery and Service Member follow-up with my peers, to creative ‘no contact’ distribution of incoming holiday donations, gifts and personal care items, to organizing cooking classes, language classes, and cultural history classes for U.S. and Coalition military forces serving their deployment rotation at BDSC, was a dream come true!”

You can read more about Lisa’s experiences here.

Lifesaving Blood

Blood donor Jennifer Sahni credits the Red Cross for saving her life after a challenging childbirth. After delivery, Jennifer’s cesarean incision would not stop bleeding. She received two units of blood, which stabilized her. Two days later, she had to receive a second transfusion with an additional two units of blood. She was able to go home the next day.

“I am so grateful to the people who donated the blood I received,” Jennifer said. “Because of them, I was able to go home and be with my kids. You can read more about Jennifer’s story here.

Training Services

On Tuesday, March 16, two local residents were honored with American Red Cross commendations in a virtual ceremony hosted by the organization’s Central Coast Chapter.

“These two individuals exemplify the mission of the Red Cross to prevent and alleviate human suffering in the face of emergencies and are to be commended for their willingness to help others in distress.” – Michele Averill, Executive Director of the American Red Cross Central Coast Chapter. You can read more about Linda and Robert here.

International Services

Red Crossers and the public at large were invited to a speaker series to learn how the American Red Cross International Services team provides relief and hope in communities around the globe by reconnecting families separated by crises, helping rebuild communities devastated by disasters and working alongside health organizations to eliminated global disease. 

Featured panelists included Chris Losavio, Executive Director, Heart of the Valley Chapter American Red Cross Northern California Coastal Region; Patrick Hamilton, Head of Delegation for the United States and Canada International Committee of the Red Cross; Koby J. Langley, Senior Vice President, Service to the Armed Forces and International Services American Red Cross; Christine Medeiros, Pacific Division Lead, Restoring Family Links American Red Cross. You can view a recording of the discussion here.

Disaster Services

Navy veteran Michael Ocaranza awoke earlier this year to flames engulfing his apartment. He had just enough time to grab his dog, Sparky, and race out the door as fire licked around his head.

American Red Cross volunteers and case managers, Betsy Witthohn and Cindy Jones, first contacted Mike during his hospitalization and began to put together resources for his welfare following his stay. During the recovery process, Mike says they became “like friends from the past that I never had before – it’s a good feeling all over.”

You can read more about Mike’s story here.

From all of us in Communications, Happy Holidays and best wishes for the New Year!

If you have a story lead for any one of our writers, please email us at NCCRPublicAffairs@redcross.org.

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