TAMPA, Fla. — As Hurricane Beryl made its way through the Caribbean, the monster storm left a path of destruction in its wake.
Although it was roughly 700 miles away from the Tampa Bay area, the storm still has an effect on people's lives here.
For now, disaster response teams from the Tampa Bay area were in a holding pattern. The Salvation Army, for example, says its international partners will be first to respond.
While it's not unprecedented for the Red Cross to send volunteers abroad, as they did to the Bahamas after Hurricane Dorian, they are keeping an eye on the storm's potential domestic impact on Texas.
“We are calling the usual suspects. The volunteers that deploy all the time,” said Michael Brown with the American Red Cross. “They're being contacted.”
For local families with loved ones in Beryl's path, there's also a sense of helplessness due to communications being down.
Some charities and relief groups in the region are already mobilizing. The Global Empowerment Mission in South Florida is asking for dry goods, tarps and generators as they load cargo planes.
“There are 1,000 roofs in Grenada that don't have any more shingles on them and we need tarps,” said GEM’s Founder, Michael Capponi.
People with vacation plans or traveling to areas impacted by the storm should also take note since the storm could impact those plans.
“They're never going to fly a plane or $100 million ship, a cruise, into a storm. They're going to stay away as far as they can,” said Don Oneal, President of Travelworld travel agency in Tampa.
Oneal says thousands of people who've booked vacations and cruises from our area should be prepared for changes in their itineraries — altering course to avoid the storm’s path now.
Travel experts recommend trip insurance for those who might be planning a visit to any of the areas impacted by the storm, especially if getting there requires airfare.
“If you get structural damages and port damages it could be weeks or even a few months before they can open it back up,” Oneal said.