Emergency

The young dancers from the Love to Dance Academy were thrilled about their annual dance event last November. Instead on November 15, 2021, during the first day of the dance event, the entire community of Merritt began to disperse as panicked families rushed to leave town. An evacuation order had been put out due to the massive flooding.

Shah, his wife, his two young children and his elderly parents lived without electricity as temperatures dropped on the island after Hurricane Fiona. Luckily, Shah soon found out about the support Red Cross was offering to people impacted by the hurricane and was introduced to “Mister René,” as he likes to call René Omalosanga, the accommodation lead for the response to Hurricane Fiona in Prince Edward Island.

The Canadian Red Cross continues to support those significantly impacted by post tropical storm Fiona that hit parts of the Atlantic provinces and Quebec. To date, the Red Cross has registered more than 79,000 households in all provinces impacted by the hurricane, and already distributed more than $11 million in financial assistance to over 32,000 eligible households.

The Canadian Red Cross is working closely with provincial, municipal, and Indigenous governments to provide help for people, communities, and businesses that have been impacted by Fiona. Find out how we are helping and where to get help if you need it.

Lebanon has been facing an evolving and complex humanitarian crisis for several years, generating widespread and growing needs for humanitarian assistance. The people of Lebanon are the ones bearing the brunt of the impact of a series of devastating crises: a complex economic and financial crisis, which has been exacerbated by COVID-19 and the explosion that rocked the Port of Beirut on August 4, 2020.

Monsoon rainfall in Pakistan is causing catastrophic landslides and flash flooding across the country. The record-breaking rains are nearly three times higher than the past 30-year average and have impacted an estimated 33 million people – for scale, the population of Canada is just over 38.6 million. 

On a November morning last year, as Travis looked inside his newly renovated shop, he could see the water slowly creeping higher. He was in disbelief. He had never imagined the flooding of the Nooksack River would have such a devastating impact on his property in Abbotsford.

The Princeton Family Services Society building in B.C. was damaged in the flooding and the cost of repairing their building has been a stressor. After hearing about the Canadian Red Cross’ Support to Small Businesses and Not-for-Profits Program, Jenny decided to apply for the financial assistance.
“The loss of building and then rebuilding is a huge cost to us,” emphasizes Jenny. “Help from Red Cross has really helped."