159 homes affected in Forrest County, American Red Cross assisting flood victims

HATTIESBURG, Miss - American Red Cross volunteers from all over the nation continue to assess the flood damage in the Pine Belt.

Forrest Country Emergency Management reported, "A total of 159 homes affected by the floods, 3 homes destroyed, 47 homes suffered major damage, 52 homes had minor damage, and 56 were affected."

The American Red Cross is encouraging flood victims to report their damage as it will help with final reports.

Disaster Manager of American Red Cross, Angie Grajeda said, "There has been several people in the community that has been affected with just waters in their homes, some have 1 to 2 inches, some have several feet."

The organization has received around 200 phone calls and reports of damaged homes.

Once volunteers document the damage Red Cross sends out caseworkers to evaluate the house.

"Right now we are still in our disaster assessment phase, this is why we are out in the community just making sure people have things to get started on their clean up. As we get out of the disaster assessment we are funneling that into our case workers, so they can begin reaching out to those individuals and start writing cases and make sure we know specific needs as individuals head into their covery" said Grajeda.

Grajeda said Red Cross plans on being here for another week until the long term recovery begins.

If you would like to donate to American Red Cross you can text 9099.