Catholic Charities staff standing by ready to assist with disaster response efforts
CHARLOTTE — Tropical depression Florence continues to pour on North Carolina, bringing dangerous flooding and power outages.
All nine schools in the Mecklenburg Area Catholic Schools system were closed Monday, Sep.t 17. Sacred Heart School in Salisbury is also closed Monday, Sept. 17 due to continued rain and flooding.
Bishop McGuinness High School in Kernersville will operate on a normal schedule on Monday, Sept. 17.
Our Lady of Grace in Greensboro will operate on a two-hour delay. School will begin at 10 a.m. There will be no before school care or hot lunch.
Immaculata School in Hendersonville will also operate on a two-hour delay due to the risk of area flooding causing hazardous driving conditions, Classes will begin at 10 a.m.
Other schools in the diocese had not reported closures as of 9:30 p.m. Sunday.
Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte staff are standing by, communicating with their colleagues on the eastern side of North Carolina in the Diocese of Raleigh to coordinate disaster response efforts.
Catholic Charities has been participating in regular calls with N.C. Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster, or NC VOAD.
Catholic Charities is encouraging people to call North Carolina’s help line 2-1-1 if they need help seeking shelter or other assistance. NC 2-1-1 is an information and referral service provided by United Way of North Carolina and supported by local United Ways and public and private partners across the state, and it is available in all 100 North Carolina counties.
In addition, a helpful resource is READY NC, which provides a regular stream of news releases during a time of a disaster.
— Catholic News Herald
Note: This story will be updated as more information is available.
Pictured: Boarded-up windows with the words "Pray for Wilmington" are seen Sept. 12 Wilmington, N.C., ahead of Hurricane Florence. Communities along the southeastern coast prepared for the onslaught of the Category 4 hurricane. Forecasters warned the storm could hesitate just offshore for days, punishing a longer stretch of coastline harder than previously feared, before pushing inland over the Sept. 15-16 weekend. (CNS photo/Chris Keane, Reuters)