WATERFORD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WXYZ) — As Hurricane Milton is expected to make landfall Wednesday night, volunteers are hard at work on relief efforts.
The storm is taking aim at Florida’s Gulf Coast and is expected to bring heavy wind, rain and major damage.
Evacuation efforts are well underway with the window to get out of unsafe zones closing in.
As that storm unfolds, people here at home are preparing to respond with supplies.
"I can’t express how beautiful it is to see so many people coming out and helping out," said volunteer Cliff Lee, who helped pack cleaning supplies.
Lee was one of several dozen volunteers at Disaster Relief At Work's Waterford Township location Wednesday afternoon packing up buckets for victims of Hurricane Helene.
'It’s wonderful. I feel so blessed and the people there will be very blessed to get this," said Donna McNally who also helped pack up cleaning supplies.
McNally is the very neighbor the supplies are meant to benefit. She says she evacuated her small town, just outside of Asheville, N.C., to stay with her daughter in metro Detroit. She says she wanted to help those left behind.
"Asheville is going to be without water for a very, very long time because they have to rebuild everything and they have to rebuild all the electric out to our town so it’s going to be a long haul," said McNally. "I can hardly wait to go back and do the same thing for other people. This is a wonderful place and I really appreciate it’s going to where I live."
The nonprofit says in the 12 years it has existed, they have responded to around 150 storms. The team has spent the last several days responding to Hurricane Helene.
"Helene is this generation's Katrina, in terms of destruction, devastation and how it expansive it is. It’s unlike anything we’ve ever seen doing this 12.5 years as an organization," said DRAW executive director Greg Martin.
Martin says they don't know exactly what will be needed yet but they are preparing to do the same for victims of Milton.
A truck full of cleaning supplies will be heading out to Brevard, N.C. Wednesday night. Two more trucks loaded with supplies are expected to be packed up and shipped out this weekend for victims of Helene and Milton.
"The thing about this is you never know where these things are going to hit it could be us and if it’s us we hope other people will step up for us because at the end of the day all we have is each other," said Martin.
Martin says in the coming weeks, more supplies and volunteers will be needed. Anyone interested in helping can find more information on their website.
