Red Cross Shelter in Silver Creek Closed

At approximately 11:30pm Monday, October 29, American Red Cross volunteers opened a shelter at the Silver Creek Central School following a non-mandatory evacuation order for areas along streams issued by the Chautauqua County Emergency Operations Center (EOC). The shelter remained open overnight to accommodate evacuees, but no residents were served at the shelter and at the request of the EOC, the shelter was shut down at approximately 7:30 this morning.

The Silver Creek Central School is one of several potential shelter locations that remain on standby throughout the eight counties of the Western New York region. Red Cross Emergency Services personnel continue to monitor the situation and are in contact with local government agencies to coordinate the response to this storm.

Hurricane Sandy is a large disaster with an even larger footprint. Nearly 11,000 people spent Monday night in 258 Red Cross shelters in 16 states. Over 2,000 residents sought shelter in the Greater NY Region, and that number is expected to grow as there are widespread power outages, damaged homes and flooded neighborhoods throughout the NYC area.

Nine volunteers from the WNY region were deployed downstate ahead of the storm to assist in the Red Cross relief operations. It is expected that several additional volunteers from this area will be deployed once it is deemed safe for them to do so, and Emergency Response Vehicles (ERVs) from both Niagara Falls and Jamestown are on alert.

This will be a large, costly relief response across several states. Donations help the Red Cross provide shelter, food, emotional support and other assistance to those affected by disasters like Hurricane Sandy. To donate, people can visit www.redcross.org, call 1-800-RED-CROSS, or text the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation.