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Multiple North Texas organizations heading east to help those impacted by storms

Multiple North Texas organizations heading east to help those impacted by storms
Multiple North Texas organizations heading east to help those impacted by storms 01:29

PERRYTON (CBSNewsTexas.com) — More than 100,000 people are still without power after storms plowed through East Texas Thursday, and according to SWEPCO, this could still be the case for another week.

The affected areas extend east to Louisiana, and as far west as Grand Saline, Texas—impacting nursing homes and medical facilities.

And with temperatures expected to climb well into the triple digits this week, things could even more dangerous.

Because of the damage and rising temperatures, multiple North Texas organizations are helping the cause and sending additional resources and personnel to out east. So far, Frisco Fire Department, Flower Mound Fire Department, the Texas Baptist Men and Fort Worth's MedStar Health are all stepping up.

On Sunday evening, MedStar's Matt Zavadsky showed CBS News Texas their AMBUS that will help them transport patients out of areas without power.

"MedStar—like other agencies that have an AMBUS—are always on call to send the AMBUS to locations in the state, or out of state, for emergencies," Zavadsky said. "Clearly what's happening in East Texas for patients in health care centers is a large scale emergency and this is one of the most effective ways to be able to move large numbers of patients in a very short period of time."

MedStar plans to stick around for another day or so, and has plans in place to swap out crews if they stay longer than that.  

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