Tulsa volunteers first called to action ahead of Hurricane Sandy

A local group with the American Red Cross was one of the first called to the coast ahead of the powerful storm.

Volunteer Terry Bavousette is in Baltimore.

He tells KRMG, "Nothing going on in downtown right now, which should be really just hoping on a Monday morning."

Terry says his group is always one of the first nationwide to respond because of their specialty of organizing shelters before the storm.

Bavousette says, “We were one of the first ones up here. We are assigned to get the shelters ready to go for the people when they start coming."

He speaks to KRMG on the phone from a staging center and describes the atmosphere.

There are no cars and only volunteers, with a few scragglers walking around with umbrellas turned inside out because of the rain and wind.

"There should be nobody out, but there's one or two people I've seen just starting to brave this thing."

The volunteer is use to this kind of work.

When he’s not with the American Red Cross, his job is at the Oklahoma State Department of Emergency Management.

He just worked a hurricane on the coast a few weeks ago.

"Labor Day, I guess it was, we were down with Isaac. So, this is our second hurricane in about a month."

Terry says it is much more difficult to prepare for this storm.

“It's just huge right now. And it's just hard to stay ahead of a storm that big."

He brought as many clothes as he could, a blow up mattress and his medications.

Bavousette is ready to stay at least two weeks, maybe three.