People from Massachusetts are in the Southeast helping with Hurricane Helene relief efforts, including volunteers with the American Red Cross of Massachusetts and the Salvation Army.

When the storm hit, hundreds of good samaritans began making their way to the region, and while their first priorities include rescues and getting residents food and water, many will stay long after the flood water recedes.

“The biggest thing that we're running into on the ground here is that this is the third storm that's hit this area in 13 months,” said Michelle Hartfield. “The people are exhausted just on a level that is almost incomprehensible.”

Hartfield, who serves as a territorial public information officer for the Salvation Army, said volunteers leave their families for a two-week deployment to disaster sites like Perry, Florida, where her team has set up a base camp.

“Everyone that's here is committed,” Hartfield said. “They're passionate about helping others, about serving. And it becomes kind of almost a family. We're here, we're working, we love it, and we're happy that we get to do this and help others.”

The Salvation Army is just one arm of the sprawling relief effort, coordinated by the state’s emergency operations center. Holly Grant, CEO of the American Red Cross of Massachusetts, said the organization has 30 volunteers on the ground.

“There’s this special magic where people come together to really help each other that’s really, really beautiful, and people are doing that and will continue to do that,” Grant said. “It’s been massive, massive flooding. The wind destruction has also been horrible, so there’s still a lot of places we haven’t even been able to get to.”

Volunteer-lead efforts like this have become increasingly important across the country. From flooding in Vermont to wildfires in California, Grant said natural disasters have become more frequent and severe.

“Ten years ago, we’d get two, maybe three $1 billion-plus disasters that would happen in a given year. Last year, there were 28 $1 billion disasters, and this year we’re on track for the same amount,” Grant said. “We have a tremendous volunteer workforce, and we’re always looking for more volunteers who want to help get involved locally or be part of the larger-scale responses we’re part of today.”

In addition to their work responding to the storm, Grant said Red Cross volunteers are also supporting several shelters for people impacted by a chemical plant fire outside of Atlanta, which prompted a shelter in place notice for more than 90,000 residents.