Local volunteers ready to meet storm

Six Inland Northwest Red Cross volunteers who helped during Hurricane Katrina are marking its one-year anniversary by helping prepare communities for another storm: Tropical Storm Ernesto, which may make landfall in Florida this week.

Lyle O’Neel, a disaster mental health manager from Spokane, will travel to Falls Church, Va., today to set up the Red Cross’ national counseling call center. Five other volunteers will help Florida communities prepare in case Ernesto grows into a hurricane.

As of Monday evening, Ernesto had 40-mph maximum sustained winds and was over eastern Cuba, according to the National Hurricane Center. A tropical storm warning and hurricane watch remained in effect for areas of southern Florida, where Ernesto may hit as early as Wednesday morning.

If it gains strength over warm water, Ernesto could become the Gulf Coast’s first hurricane this year.

“It looks like it could develop, but it’s not the strongest storm I’ve seen,” said O’Neel, whose center took roughly 12,000 mental health calls related to Katrina and Hurricane Rita.

He took some of those calls himself, and he provided backup for other operators dealing with people who were potentially suicidal. O’Neel, 67, spent three months in Virginia after Katrina, and he will be gone for at least three weeks this time, he said.

“My fingers are crossed,” he said. “I’d like to come home really bored.”

LuAnn Stallcop of Otis Orchards, LaVerne Eccarius of Medical Lake, Sharon Andrews of Spokane Valley, George Abrams of Cheney and Jane Bister of Spokane will weather Ernesto with local residents, said Red Cross spokeswoman Abi Weaver.

After the storm, Stallcop and Eccarius will manage reports about disaster relief operations, Abrams will work in disaster mental health and Bister will oversee a team of damage assessment specialists, according to a Red Cross news release.

The Inland Northwest Red Cross’ emergency response vehicle and drivers also are standing by, the release said.