A look back at Red Cross disaster response on its 140th anniversary

When Clara Barton conceived the American Red Cross in the wake of the Civil War, she likely couldn't have imagined what the organization would become nearly a century and a half later.

The Red Cross logo is a familiar sight on the scenes of disasters, providing money, shelter, food clothes and supplies to people, many of whom are suffering extensive loss and experiencing the worst ordeals of their lives.

From helping during disasters and ensuring access to lifesaving blood, to providing training to save lives and supporting military communities, the Red Cross is almost always there when people are in need.

As the organization celebrates 140 years of service, AccuWeather is taking an in-depth look at some of the notable disasters that helped shape what the Red Cross has become today.

Michigan Forest Fire, 1881

1881 Michigan Fires. A family fleeing from the advancing flames. (Photo credit: American Red Cross Archives)

The wildfire -- known as the Thumb Fire after the strip of land it ravaged between Saginaw Bay and Lake Huron -- ignited in September after months of drought. It burned more than a million acres. Years of lumbering debris fueled flames that ultimately killed more than 275 people, numerous cattle and destroyed 3,000 buildings.

American Red Cross archivist Susan Watson told AccuWeather this was the very first disaster response undertaken by the organization, which had formed just a few months prior.

"It was a good chance for the Red Cross to get into the field of disaster relief and show people what they could do and that they were there to help," Watson said. "It really did sort of help set the stage for disaster response going forward as far as assessing the needs, raising money, providing relief." Watson added thet the response to the fire's aftermath began to "develop that pattern for the Red Cross [that it] continues to follow today."

Johnstown, Pennsylvania Flood, 1889

Depiction of Johnstown, PA flood. (Photo credit: American Red Cross archive)

On May 31, 1889, a dam broke, releasing 20-million tons of water into the narrow Conemaugh Valley in Pennsylvania. Water reached 60 feet high as it barreled toward Johnsontown at speeds of 40 mph.

The Johnstown Flood, which killed more than 2,000 people, is known as one of the worst disasters in U.S. history.

May 1889. West End, Main Street. The John Shultze house punctured by a tree following the Johnstown Flood of 1889. (Photo credit: American Red Cross Archives. Photographer: unknown)

Clara Barton was quickly on the scene with the American Red Cross in the immediate aftermath. Watson says this disaster marked the first time the Red Cross actually built shelters for people.

"People were in tents after the disaster," Watson said. "The Red Cross was providing food and other relief supplies," Watson continued, saying the Red Cross workers also built structures that were more akin to hotels. "Shelters that had about 35 rooms. They were well equipped, they had dining rooms, they had laundry, kitchens, bathrooms, they had running water," she said.

Providing shelter to displaced people remains one of the most important functions of the American Red Cross in the immediate aftermath of a disaster.

May 1889 Johnstown, Pennsylvania Flood "The Ruins of Johnstown." (Photo credit: American Red Cross Archive)

The extensive news coverage of the Johnstown flood and the relief effort helped establish the American Red Cross as the major disaster relief agency in the United States.

Sea Islands, Georgia, Hurricane, 1893

American Red Cross shelters for hurricane survivors. (Photo credit: American Red Cross archives)

The Sea Islands hurricane struck the Atlantic coast near Savannah, Georgia, in August of 1893. It is the seventh-deadliest hurricane in U.S. history just after Hurricane Katrina. The storm killed an estimated 1,000 to 2,000 people, mostly from storm surge. The victims were mostly formerly enslaved people and their children, who had been freed in recent years and began building new lives on the Sea Islands. The Red Cross was on the scene for 10 months, helping survivors recover and rebuild.

1893; Sea Island, South Carolina hurricane. Receiving room for clothing. (Photo credit: American Red Cross archives)

According to The State, Barton wrote in her autobiography of the sea islands effort: "The submerged lands were drained, 300 miles of ditches made, a million feet of lumber purchased and homes built, fields and gardens planted with the best seed in the United States, and the work all done by the people themselves."

Barton said 20,000 refugees were living in the streets of Beaufort immediately after the storm. Within weeks, she had moved the food distribution sites from Beaufort to the islands to lure people back home so rebuilding could begin in earnest.

"I think the Sea Islands really helped to bring that message home that the Red Cross was there to help and to help all people," Watson said.

The Great Mississippi Flood, 1927

"This was an enormous disaster. The magnitude was just enormous," Watson told AccuWeather.

The flood occurred in April after months of heavy rain caused the entire levee system along the Lower Mississippi to fail. It was the most destructive river flood in the history of the U.S., with 27,000-square miles inundated. In some places water depths rose as high as up to 30 feet. Hundreds were killed. More than half a million people, most of them African-Americans living in Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana, were forced to live in makeshift shelters along the river.

By this time the Red Cross had been a part of relief during WWI and had become a household name. Volunteers built more than a hundred encampments to house people who had been displaced from their homes.

In addition to feeding people, the Red Cross helped rescue and feed livestock and took the opportunity to teach people about public health.

The Mississippi Valley Flood Disaster of 1927 (Photo credit: American Red Cross archives)

"They were inoculating people in the camps against smallpox and typhoid [fever]. They took that opportunity with so many people gathered in one place to teach them about public health," Watson told AccuWeather. "Even after the disaster was over, areas that had not had public health facilities before ended up getting them because of this improvement in the standards for public health in the area."

Hurricane Camille, 1969

August 1969. Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Byais discuss their rebuilding plans with case-worker Mrs. Stella Pritchard amid the wreckage of their Pass Christian home. (Photo credit: Betty Hugh/American Red Cross)

Hurricane Camille made landfall as a Category 5 storm along the Gulf Coast near Waveland, Mississippi, and is the second-most intense hurricane on record to strike the continental United States.

The devastation caused by Camille inspired the implementation of the Saffir-Simpson Scale. According to Hurricanes: Science & Society, after the storm "Gulf Coast residents commented that hurricane warnings were insufficient in conveying the expected intensity of storms." It was also during this disaster, Watson said, that the Red Cross realized vouchers were an effective way to help people quickly.

August 1969. Gulfport, Mississippi. Decorative swimming pool in front of a sea of litter is all that remains of this Mississippi Gulf coast restaurant after Hurricane Camille shattered the area with record winds and monster tides. (Photo credit: Ted Carland/American Red Cross)

"One of the things they did early on in the disaster response -- because there was just so much a human need and the need to respond to people as quickly as possible -- they stopped taking clothing donations and they instead went with vouchers," Watson said. The voucher system allowed families to visit local businesses and buy what they needed in a very short period of time, allowing those impacted to begin the recovery process more quickly.

August 1969. Hurricane Camille. (Photo credit: American Red Cross archives)

The Red Cross continues to offer direct financial assistance like this after certain disasters because, during the Hurricane Camille relief efforts, the organization realized cash in the hands of people in need is the most flexible model -- and the best, fastest way to support people.

After 140 years of service, innovation and hope, Clara Barton's words ring true now more than ever. "The Red Cross is a part of us - it has come to stay - and like the sturdy oak, it's spreading branches shall yet encompass and shelter the relief of the nation."

Click here if you'd like to join the Red Cross mission by volunteering, giving blood, learning lifesaving skills or making a financial donation.

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