MILWAUKEE (WTAQ) – Almost 20 Red Cross volunteers from Wisconsin spent their Memorial Day on rescue vehicles heading to Texas and Oklahoma — where horrendous rain storms killed at least nine Americans.
Red Cross teams from Milwaukee, Madison, and Wausau boarded emergency response vehicles for an expected 15 to 20 hour drive.
At Milwaukee, John Siegers and David Piper told WISN-TV it’s their 5th rescue mission together. They won’t know what they’ll be doing until they get there — but they agree that feeding hungry children is the biggest thing they never forget from such trips.
In the other corner of the state, Kevin and Lori Pederson left Lac du Flambeau on their first Red Cross deployment. Both were nervous, with no idea what to expect.
Red Cross officials say each volunteer gets around 40 hours of basic rescue training.
Texas and Oklahoma have had 4 days of unprecedented rains, and residents were praying for a let up Tuesday.
A tornado in Ciudad Acuna Mexico, near the U.S. border, killed 13 people and caused major damage in a city of 180,000.
(Story courtesy of Wheeler News Service)
