The Red Cross here in the city is lending a helping hand to residents in Louisiana after the state is ravaged by historic flooding. 

The organization has set up a call center in its Hell's Kitchen office to assist displaced residents. 

It says it has also sent staff from chapters across the country to help out. 

Louisiana officials say 40,000 homes have been damaged by the flooding and 30,000 people were rescued. 

At least 13 people have died. 

The Red Cross says it's housing more than 7,000 people in shelters across Louisiana. 

"We've deployed actually 12 volunteers and staff from our region here in New York City to Louisiana but altogether there are over one-thousand Red Crossers who have headed down there to help assist in sheltering and feeding," said Desiree Ramos-Reiner, Chief External Affairs Officer for Red Cross of Greater New York.

"You could hear in people's voices--voices that they're quite nervous, quite upset in Louisiana and we try to calm them down and have them go to a place that they can go to a shelter," said Richard Sanford, a Red Cross volunteer.

President Barack Obama has issued a disaster declaration in 20 Louisiana parishes.

If you'd like to donate to relief efforts, you can call 1-800-RED-CROSS or go to redcross.org.