Sandy floodwaters destroy World Vision relief supplies

Federal Way-based World Vision says flooding from Hurricane Sandy has inundated its warehouse in New York, destroying thousands of dollars worth of critical disaster relief supplies.

“Our team had to evacuate (Monday) because the floodwaters from the East River were actually rising at a rate that we thought we might have our team stranded in the facility itself,” says Mindy Mizell with World Vision in New York City.

When team members returned to the warehouse in the Bronx Tuesday morning, it was swamped with four to five feet of water.

“It’s just ironic we had our response team that deployed quickly into New York over the weekend and then to have to walk in this morning and see how much damage there was it just sets us back,” Mizell says.

Mizell says they were able to move some of the relief kits to higher ground before the floodwaters hit. Crew members are moving those supplies to a nearby warehouse and bringing in additional relief supplies from World Vision’s National Domestic Disaster headquarters in North Texas.

“These are specific items that we know people who are in shelters desperately need during these next 24 to 72 hours, so we’re going to be working around the clock to try to make sure that happens. We’re basically trying to turn lemons into lemonade,” she says.

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