Tens of thousands of people have been forced to evacuate the city of Houston as it begins the long recover from this weekend’s massive Hurricane Harvey. 

Northern Californians are playing an important role in Houston's recovery from Hurricane Harvey. The non-profit Direct Relief is coordinating with health agencies on the ground to provide medical aid.

Sacramentan Tony Morain is communications director with the organization. He's on the ground in Houston.

"Growing up in Sacramento, you don't have a feeling for what a hurricane feels like," Morain says. "It's absolutely horrible, and my heart certainly goes out to what people are dealing with."

Morain says a lot of their work is focused on pre-planning. Morain says they learned a lot from Hurricane Katrina.

"Direct Relief mapped the Category 4 hurricane paths the past 40 years, overlayed that with our understanding of various attributes that lead to vulnerable populations, like where are people who are elderly, where are people who are homeless, where are people who don't speak English as a first language," says Morain.

The non-profit Red Rover is in Dallas taking in rescue animals from Houston. The Sacramento Regional Community Foundation has tips on the best organizations to donate to.