Minnesota woman aids Hurricane Helene relief efforts

PLYMOUTH, Minn. — The Red Cross is sending volunteers from Minnesota to some of the Southern communities hit hardest by hurricanes Helene and Milton.
Susan Sparling-Micks returned this weekend to her home in Plymouth after two weeks in Georgia.
She worked 13-hour days across the state surveying as much damage as she could from Helene. Sparling-Micks has volunteered with the Red Cross doing damage assessment for almost a decade.
“Most of the damage was from trees falling on houses, cars,” she said. “You’d see the houses cut right in half.”
She shared a story of a mother of three who had a tree fall through her son’s bedroom.
“They’re not allowed to live there [now],” Sparling-Micks said. “The landlord said they can’t stay. He doesn’t know when it’ll get fixed. She can’t even get her things out except maybe carrying armfuls of clothes because there’s four giant trees in the backyard.”
Sparling-Micks’ role is to find where the damage is and take pictures of it, often visiting smaller, more remote communities.
“We’ll stop in city hall or if we can find emergency management or a cafe [and say,] ‘Hey, how’s the damage where you live?'” she said.
Sparling-Micks says the Red Cross needs her documentation to then come in with resources.
“I’m lucky to be able to go help people because that’s what you want to do,” she said. “We were still encountering people after 2.5 weeks from the hurricane that don’t have electricity.”
Sparling-Micks is considering another mission soon, this time to Florida where the worst of the damage from Hurricane Milton is.