When the American Red Cross asked volunteer Marie Sablan to join Harvey relief efforts, she was ready.
“When I got the phone call, I knew I had to go," said Sablan. "And my husband and my family know that this is like my calling."
A Chula Vista resident, Sablan deployed as a shelter worker in the small town of Sour Lake, about an hour and a half northeast of Houston. She left a week after Hurricane Harvey hit, and spent two weeks in the Midwest.
“These are families who have been displaced by floodwaters," said Sablan. "They’ve said they’ve had 4 feet of water, 7 feet of water up to 10 feet even. Some just completely washed away.”
Sablan said people staying in the shelters did not even have basic necessities.
“I did not see any suitcases," she said. "I’m telling you when they say you need to vacate, you better do it. So the families in our shelter basically left their home with what they were wearing and what they could grab on the way out."
RELATED: San Diegans Offer Help In Texas After Hurricane Harvey
At a special Red Cross training Tuesday, Sablan met nearly 100 volunteers interested in helping those displaced. After four hours of training, the volunteers are ready to deploy within 48 hours.
“We have to be flexible and we encourage our volunteers to have that flexibility, of course be ready to deploy," said interim CEO Charlene Zettel. "But I suspect that it will be in the next two weeks, three weeks, four weeks. This response is going to take a long time”
If tapped — volunteers would be deployed for at least two weeks, something that is not easy for their families.
“They’ll text me and they’ll go we saw, we just watched the news and so and so is getting flooded where are you are you safe," said Sablan.
As of Tuesday, American Red Cross said there were 33 volunteers from San Diego in Texas, and 31 in Florida.
