JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department and the American Red Cross worked together to prepare people living in high-risk flood zones on the Northside for hurricane season.
The organizations handed out 150 hurricane preparedness buckets filled with essential items Saturday morning to families in need who live along Ken Knight Drive and Moncrief Road in the Ribault neighborhood.
“I’m getting all kinds of goodies: masks, hand wipes, gloves,” resident Edward Cook said. “Sometimes when it rains real hard, it comes all the way up to the street.”
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American Red Cross Disaster Program Manager Joe Clark said a lot of residents did not have hurricane preparedness kits in their homes.
“This neighborhood is historically known for bad flooding. You have this creek over here, which can be a danger to this neighborhood during a bad storm -- this is why the Red Cross is here passing out hurricane preparedness starter kits,” Clark said.
During Hurricane Irma, another part of Ken Knight Drive and Moncrief Road near the Ribault River experienced serious flooding because of heavy rains that caused the river to severely overflow, which caused millions of dollars in property damage.
Christian Smith with the American Red Cross said this event is about more than distributing supplies to the community. It’s also an opportunity to inform the community about safe hurricane preparedness practices.
“It’s about making sure they know that they’re going to stay in their home, what they need to do with their homes, or if they’re going to go to a shelter,” Smith said.