BLOOMINGTON - State Farm Insurance Cos. and the American Red Cross were anticipating Hurricane Ike's Texas landfall late Friday and had people ready to respond to the storm's expected devastation.

Bloomington-based State Farm had more than 1,000 catastrophe team members at Centralized Catastrophe Services locations in Dallas and Jacksonville, Fla.

"There are now so many people stationed at the Jacksonville claim center that employees are being bused to the site from remote parking lots," State Farm spokesman Jonathan Freed said. "We have been steadily increasing our staffing at these centers as a result of the series of recent storms."

Additional claim representatives, agents and staff also are waiting near areas of Ike's potential impact. State Farm has 12 mobile office vehicles ready to be dispatched.

As of Friday, State Farm received 50,284 property claims from Hurricane Gustav, which struck southwest of New Orleans earlier this month.

Meanwhile, 10 American Red Cross of the Heartland volunteers and staff who have responded to Gustav and the other recent hurricanes in the South were going to be "hunkering down" late Friday to prepare for Hurricane Ike, said Scott Vogel, spokesman for the Bloomington-based Heartland chapter.

"They're still working but will be hunkering down later today to make sure they're safe" from Ike, he said.

Karen Rhodes of Ottawa, who was working on Gustav response in Mississippi, has been transferred to Texas to prepare for Ike, Vogel said.

Phyllis Bardonski of Hudson, who has been working on Hurricane Fay response in Florida, and Parker Lawlis of Normal, who has been working on Hurricane Hannah response in Florida, may be transferred to Ike duty, Vogel said.

Other Heartland chapter volunteers and staff were working in Louisiana on Gustav response and likely will be working on a combined Gustav-Ike response after Ike passes through, Vogel said. They are Sondra Hayes of Danvers, Janice Miller of Clinton, Ken and Ruth Broquard of Fairbury, Jim Kaiser of Bloomington, Donna Tambling of Bloomington and Lynn Willard of Roanoke.

Another volunteer, Adam Bryant of Normal, has completed his assignment and returned home.