Dawn Blake of Newcastle departed from the Portland Jetport on May 5 to join additional Maine Red Cross volunteers as they assist those Texans recovering from the historic flooding in the region. Since December of 2015, Dawn has been a volunteer with the Red Cross in Maine and has previously been deployed to Louisiana after the devastating tornadoes and flooding earlier this year.

Over the last two weeks, six Red Cross volunteers from the state of Maine have been deployed to Houston, including; Darlene Helms (of Hampden), Barbara Jurgen (of Arundel), Shaun Kieran (of South Portland), Emily Armour (of Bangor) and Bob Melaragno (of Auburn).

The severe flooding throughout the Houston metropolitan area caused nine fatalities and the need for more than 1,200 high water rescues, many of which involved people attempting to drive to safety through flooded streets.  Disaster teams from the state of Maine were on the ground within days of the incident and were part of the relief efforts in Houston.

Individuals can help people affected by the Texas Floods by visiting www.maineredcross.org, calling 1-800-RED CROSS or texting the word TXFLOODS to 90999 to make a $10 donation.  Donations to Texas Floods will be used to prepare for, respond to and help people recover from these disasters.