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Photo Essays

New Jersey Flooding They called it a thousand-year storm. According to weather experts, only once a millennium does more than 13 inches of rain fall in less than a 12 hour period. And that’s what happened in south-central New Jersey on July 12th. When the rains finally abated, 12 dams had burst, almost 400 homes were damaged by floodwaters, and thousands were left with the struggle to clean up and recover. But more than 200 American Red Cross volunteers took part in a massive disaster relief effort to help flood victims, serving more than 16,000 meals and snacks and distributing 500 clean-up kits throughout the affected area. Red Cross workers remain active in the region, assisting residents with their long-term recovery needs. Photos by Bonnie Gillespie, American Red Cross  more...

Illinois Flooding Weeks of steady rainfall and severe storms in the Chicago suburbs sent the Des Plaines River surging over its embankments in late May. Despite sandbagging efforts in communities along the floodplain, many homes still suffered irreparable damage, and hundreds of Illinois families looked to the Red Cross for help. Scores of volunteers from Illinois and beyond worked for weeks to bring food, water, clean-up kits and much-needed emergency supplies to flood victims as the waters began to subside. Photography by Bonnie Gillespie, American Red Cross  more...

Nebraska Tornado Relief On May 22, a massive F4 tornado roared through the tiny town of Hallam, Neb.. With winds peaking at 210 mph, the twister leveled more than 160 homes and damaged hundreds more. Virtually every structure in the community of 300 was affected, one person died and dozens more were injured by the violent tornado that carved a path of destruction 52 miles long and 2.5 miles wide across southeast Nebraska. Photography by Bonnie Gillespie, American Red Cross  more...

Red Cross Volunteers at the 2004 National Convention Red Cross Volunteers were honored during the 2004 American Red Cross National Convention in St. Louis, Missouri.  more...

Red Cross Nurses Are Everywhere National Nurses Week - May 6 - 12, 2004  more...

Iran Earthquake - American Red Cross Responds A major earthquake registering 6.3 on the Richter Scale hit Iran’s southeastern province of Kerman in the early morning hours of December 26, 2003. The ancient city of Bam suffered severely, as an estimated 43,000 people were killed, thousands more injured and up to 75,000 left homeless. The American Red Cross deployed a Relief Emergency Response Unit to Bam, where team members continue to work with Red Cross Movement partners to distribute relief supplies to those in need and assist in recovery operations.  more...

The Measles Initiative at Work in Gambia Stretching along the banks of the Gambia River, Africa's smallest nation - The Republic of the Gambia - is plagued by many problems, from intense poverty to poor medical care and the leading preventable childhood killer in the world - measles. When the Measles Initiative campaign launched in December 2003, Gambia Red Cross volunteers welcomed a team of American Red Cross volunteers, including four youth volunteers, who traveled to Africa to take part in the life-saving activities. Photography by Bonnie Gillespie, American Red Cross  more...

Measles Initiative Visits Guinea As part of sweeping efforts to eliminate measles from Africa, the Measles Initiative program was launched recently in Guinea. More than 3.5 million children in the West African nation were vaccinated against the disease, which has largely been forgotten in countries like the United States but is still a childhood killer in many areas of the world. Photography by Gene Dailey and Bonnie Gillespie, American Red Cross  more...

Hurricane Isabel For nearly two weeks, Hurricane Isabel menaced the eastern U.S., strengthening at one point to a monster category 5 storm. After making landfall, the fierce winds and rains shredded homes on the Outer Banks, flooded dozens of communities from North Carolina to New York, and left millions without power.  Hurricane Isabel Unleashes Her Fury...

Mass Clean-Up Underway after Tornados Rip Through Midwest and South Portions of Kansas, Missouri and Tennessee were torn apart by dozens of twisters as the massive storm system leveled entire communities, uprooted trees and electric poles and reduced homes to splintered piles of rubble.  more...

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