22 July 2008

Red Cross volunteers in the Cayman Islands spent Sunday helping residents prepare for flooding from Tropical Storm Dolly.

The volunteers from the Cayman Islands Red Cross, an Overseas Branch of the British Red Cross, spent the afternoon distributing around 80 sandbags to residents in low-lying areas so their homes would be protected from flooding.Hemant Balgobin, disaster manager for the Cayman Islands Red Cross, said: "While the volunteers were out sandbagging and gathering information, they came upon a home that had already been flooded and sprung to action, using mops and buckets to push the water out. If the volunteers had not intervened at that early stage, they would have had more than a dozen homes to clean out."

Anniversary help

Seventy-five-year-old James Bodden and his wife Pat (71) were celebrating their 46th wedding anniversary the night water started to seep into their home.

Suddenly they looked outside and saw yellow-jacketed Red Cross volunteers. Pat told Cayman Net News: "We don't know who might have called them. Or maybe they were just passing by and saw us here like an island in the middle of a lake."

The volunteers spent several hours clearing the house of water and returned the next day to make sure the couple was safe.

Hurricane Dolly

Volunteers also opened a shelter in George Town in case of evacuation. Fortunately, residents did not need to use the shelter so it was closed after eight hours.

Hemant said: "I'm very proud of the volunteers. With their training and their long-term involvement within the communities, they were aware of the areas that are vulnerable to flooding and were able to prevent further loss and damage to property."

After the tropical storm left the Cayman Islands, it was upgraded to a hurricane.

More about our Overseas Branches

Read about the Cayman Islands Red Cross

Read about the Boddens on Cayman Net News