Department of Homeland Security
Federal Emergency Management Agency
Office of External Affairs,
Private Sector Engagement Team
Telephone 202-646-2600
Private
Sector Advisory
Survivors Urged to Remain
Vigilant, Federal Support to Impacted States Continues
“I’m asking anyone out there who wants to
help, to go to NVOAD.org. That’s where you can find ways to donate money or
time and it helps benefit those who need it the most.” – FEMA Administrator
Brock Long
October 12, 2018
Safety Messages for the Public
- Stay
alert. Follow guidance from local officials, and do not return home until
you are told it is safe.
- Expect
disruptions. Be prepared for power and phone service outages, roads blocked by
flood and/or debris, water and sewer outages.
- Be
careful during clean-up. Wear protective clothing like waterproof boots and
gloves, wash your hands often, and work in teams.
- Start
the recovery process. If you have insurance, and it’s safe to return home,
call your insurance company to file
a claim. Take
photos and videos of all damages before you start cleaning up.
- Cash
is best. A financial contribution to a recognized disaster relief organization
is the most
effective donation to make.
FEMA Operations Support
FEMA deployed Incident Management Assistance Teams to Atlanta and the State
Emergency Operation Centers in Alabama, Florida, and Georgia with other teams
still deployed to North Carolina and South Carolina. The
teams will help coordinate federal response assistance requests. Federal
search and rescue teams, ambulance strike teams, Disaster Medical Assistance
Teams and other teams are all prepositioned to help response efforts.
Commodities remain staged at Incident Support Bases in Alabama, North Carolina
and South Carolina to support any anticipated commodity requirements.
Four Disaster Support Assistance (DSA) Teams are deploying today to provide
support to Florida shelters, and six DSA-trained FEMA Corps teams are
mobilizing to the affected area.
Safety and Security Support
FEMA US&R
FEMA Urban Search & Rescue teams completed 27 evacuations, 5 assists,
654 shelter in place checks, 10 animal assists, and 1,042 structural
assessments.
U.S. Department of Defense
U.S.
Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) is leaning forward and actively posturing U.S.
Department of Defense. In response
to potential flooding, DoD is preparing ground transportation/high-water
capable vehicles to move personnel and cargo in the affected areas, is
preparing to provide rotary wing aircraft, swift water boats and rescue
personnel in support of flooding in the affected areas. DoD has assets staged and ready for
assignment; 32 rotary wing assets, 6 fixed wing, 17 swift water vessels, and up
to 160 high-water-vehicles.
National Oceanic & Atmospheric
Administration
NOAA law enforcement is providing a quick response team
to the Atlanta, Georgia staging area to support force protection and site
security for Urban Search and Rescue Mission.
National Guard Bureau
As of Tuesday afternoon, the National Guard has 2,448
Guardsmen on State Active Duty for immediate response with an additional 1,500
Guardsmen expected to mobilize in the next 24 hours from Florida and Georgia. Florida has an additional 2,500
National Guard members standing by in reserve. Additionally, there are approximately
22,240 additional Guardsmen from Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and North
Carolina conducting regularly scheduled training this weekend and would be
immediately available for tasking if required.
National Guard support equipment capabilities include 15
Florida rotary wing aircraft for immediate response (CH-47/UH-60/HH-60/UH-72)
with 16 more available from supporting states. Additionally, there are 27 ANG fixed
and rotary wing aircraft (C-17/C-130/KC-135/HH-60) available for mission
tasking with more than 670 high wheel vehicles available in Florida with an
additional 2,268 located in surrounding states.
Florida is sourcing more than 50 missions that include
search & rescue, liaison, engineer, route clearance and POD support for 30
locations as well as 12 shelter support missions. There are 11 open
Florida EMAC requests from more than five supporting states that include one
Multipurpose Battalion (400 assigned personnel), seven CH-47 rotary wing
aircraft, and 11 UH-60 rotary wing aircraft.
- S. Coast Guard
USCG has completed 129 rescues/assistance missions and one animal rescue. USCG has pre-staged nine-fixed and 24
rotary wing assets for post-storm SAR efforts; three shallow water rescue teams
(11 boats) en route to Panama City; two teams (six boats) en route to
Tallahassee; 17 cutters remain positioned to assist with post-storm SAR efforts
and the reconstitution of ports.
Food, Water, Sheltering Status
Florida has released U.S. Department of Agriculture foods in 35 affected counties
for use at shelters, canteens and mobile kitchens.
The
Salvation Army mobilized 48 mobile feeding units with a combined service
capacity of 72,000 daily meals. Additionally, the Salvation Army is supporting various shelters throughout
the impacted area.
Salvation Army has mobilized 21 mobile feeding units (canteens) in Georgia with
the capacity to serve 30,000 meals per day.
Florida Baptist has four kitchens activated with total capacity of 170,000
meals per day and six additional kitchens on standby in Tallahassee. In
Florida, 18 mobile feeding units (canteens) on standby and nine additional
mobile units are set to arrive on Friday, providing a combined total meal
capacity of 40,500 per day. Operation
Barbeque Relief is staging field kitchens in Tampa and Tallahassee with a total
meal capacity of 30,000 meals per day for these two field kitchens. Southern Baptist Disaster Relief has 12
additional kitchens in nearby states that can provide up to 176,000 meals per
day.
More than 3,500 evacuees spent the night in 33 shelters in Florida.
In Alabama, 42 people stayed in three shelters overnight. Georgia has
four shelters open, and Georgia State Parks and Atlanta Motor Speedway
facilities may become available for evacuees. Overnight,
53 people stayed in Georgia shelters.
USDA launched a disaster assistance website Farmers.gov that walks
producers through five questions to help them identify personalized results of
which USDA disaster assistance programs can help them recover after a natural
disaster.
USACE deployed two temporary roofing subject matter experts to assess the
need for temporary roofing mission
Health and Medical Support
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
U.S.
Health and Human Services (HHS) reports that six Disaster Assistance
Medical Teams (DMATs) are engaged or enroute across Walton Beach, Panama City
and Tallahassee. HHS reports 308
ground ambulances and 125 para-transit members to support patient movement, and
five ambulance strike teams arrived in Florida to assist with patient
transport. In Georgia, HHS
currently has 60 ambulances staged and report 20 hospitals and 15 nursing homes
on generator power.
The HHS Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration made the
Disaster Distress Helpline available to assist residents in the impacted area
in coping with the stress caused by Michael. To
connect with a trained crisis counselor, call 1-800-985-5990 or text TalkWithUs
to 66746 (for Spanish, press 2 or text Hablanos to 66746).
Power and Fuel Support
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) District Emergency Operations Centers
have been activated in Alabama, Florida and Georgia. USACE has deployed a Temporary Power
Planning and Response Team (PRT) and members from the 249th Engineer Battalion
are prepared to assess and install generators as requested by the state; 55 generators are onsite with an additional 30
generators en route.
U.S. Department of Energy
The Department of Energy (DOE) has activated its Energy Response
Organization; DOE responders deployed to the
Regional Response Coordination Center, the Florida and Georgia State Emergency
Operations Centers. Additional DOE responders are on standby to deploy to other
states as needed. DOE
is holding daily calls with the energy industry to ensure unity of effort.
Industry has activated its mutual assistance network, and crews from at least
19 states have mobilized to begin restoring power as soon as it is safe to do
so.
Currently, DOE reports hundreds of thousands of customers are without power
across Florida, Alabama and Georgia
DOE is closely monitoring the availability of fuel across the Southeast. Overall, supplies of gasoline in the region
are at or above the five-year range.
Private Sector Energy Partners
Electric utility fleets are moving from the following states to regions in
western Florida to pre-stage resources to
support power restoration efforts: Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma,
Texas, Illinois, Louisiana and Pennsylvania.
Federal Communications Support
Four FEMA Mobile
Emergency Response Support units are supporting secure and non-secure
voice, video and information services to support emergency response
communications needs throughout areas impacted by Michael.
The Federal
Communications Commission is prepared to provide emergency assistance to
communications providers and has created a dedicated
webpage for information about Hurricane Michael, including tips for
communicating during an emergency.
Transportation
U.S. Department of Transportation created an interactive web mapping application to
provide real-time situational awareness of the storm path and its impact on
user-selected transportation infrastructure.
Hazardous Waste
The Environmental Protection Agency identified priority oil and chemical facilities
and sites that might require assessment after landfall.
Emergency Management Compacts
Nine different states are sending support through the Emergency Management
Assistance Compact. More than 15 missions are active in both Florida and
Georgia with more than 330 people deployed to assist.
Declaration Background Information
Major Disaster Declarations
- On
Oct.
11, President Trump declared a Major Disaster for the state of Florida as
a result of Hurricane Michael. This declaration makes federal funding available to affected
individuals in Bay, Franklin, Gulf, Taylor and Wakulla counties. Federal funding is also available
to the state, tribal and eligible local governments and certain private
nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work damaged
by Hurricane Michael in Bay, Calhoun, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf, Hamilton, Jackson,
Jefferson, Leon, Liberty, Madison, Suwannee, Taylor and Wakulla counties. This is in addition to the Oct. 9
emergency declaration for 35 counties.
- Individuals
and business owners who sustained losses in the designated area can visit
disasterassistance.gov
to check eligibility for federal, state, local, and voluntary
organizations in their community that best meet their specific needs.
- Survivors
without internet access can check their eligibility for disaster
assistance by calling 1-800-621-3362 (Multilingual operators are
available press 2 for Spanish).
- Disaster
assistance applicants who use TTY, should call 1-800-462-7585 directly;
for those who use 711 or Video Relay Service, call 1-800-621-3362. The toll-free telephone numbers
will operate from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.
-
Emergency Disaster Declarations
- President Trump declared an emergency declaration on Oct. 10 for 107
counties in Georgia to supplement state and local response efforts ahead
of Hurricane Michael.
- Specifically, FEMA is authorized to provide
assistance for debris removal and emergency protective measures
(Categories A and B), including direct federal assistance under the
Public Assistance program, in Baker, Bleckley, Burke, Calhoun, Colquitt,
Crisp, Decatur, Dodge, Dooly, Dougherty, Early, Emanuel, Grady, Houston,
Jefferson, Jenkins, Johnson, Laurens, Lee, Macon, Miller, Mitchell,
Pulaski, Seminole, Sumter, Terrell, Thomas, Treutlen, Turner, Wilcox and
Worth counties. Assistance will be provided at 75 percent federal
funding.
- In addition, assistance for emergency protective
measures (Category B), limited to direct federal assistance under the
Public Assistance program, will be provided at 75 percent federal funding
in Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Baldwin, Ben Hill, Berrien, Bibb, Brantley,
Brooks, Bryan, Bulloch, Butts, Camden, Candler, Charlton, Chatham,
Chattahoochee, Clarke, Clay, Clinch, Coffee, Columbia, Cook, Crawford,
Echols, Effingham, Elbert, Evans, Glascock, Glynn, Greene, Hancock,
Irwin, Jasper, Jeff Davis, Jones, Lamar, Lanier, Liberty, Lincoln, Long,
Lowndes, Marion, McDuffie, McIntosh, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan,
Muscogee, Oconee, Oglethorpe, Peach, Pierce, Putnam, Quitman, Randolph,
Richmond, Schley, Screven, Stewart, Talbot, Taliaferro, Tattnall, Taylor,
Telfair, Tift, Toombs, Twiggs, Upson, Ware, Warren, Washington, Wayne,
Webster, Wheeler, Wilkes and Wilkinson counties.
- Ala. Gov. Kay Ivey requested an emergency declaration for 17 counties
and one tribe to supplement state and local response efforts as a result
of Hurricane Michael. The request is pending.
- President Trump declared an emergency declaration on Oct. 9 for 35
Florida counties to supplement state and local response efforts ahead of
Hurricane Michael.
- Specifically, FEMA is authorized to provide
assistance for debris removal and emergency protective measures
(Categories A and B), including direct federal assistance under the
Public Assistance program, in Bay, Calhoun, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf,
Hamilton, Jackson, Jefferson, Leon, Liberty, Madison, Suwannee, Taylor,
and Wakulla counties. Assistance will be provided at 75 percent federal
funding.
o
In addition, assistance for emergency protective measures (Category B), limited
to direct federal assistance under the Public Assistance program, will be
provided at 75 percent federal funding in Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Citrus,
Columbia, Dixie, Escambia, Gilchrist, Hernando, Hillsborough, Holmes,
Lafayette, Levy, Manatee, Okaloosa, Pasco, Pinellas, Santa Rosa, Union, Walton,
and Washington counties.
Additional Resources
NOAA began collecting aerial images of the Florida panhandle on Oct.
11. Once the aerial images are processed, they will be available on www.NOAA.gov.
NOAA is issuing Storm Quicklooks for Michael, providing near real-time
information about water levels and winds. NOAA will be validating storm surge
observations from this historic event.
For more information on Hurricane Michael, please visit www.fema.gov/hurricane-michael.
If you have any questions, please contact the FEMA’s Office of External Affairs Private Sector
Engagement Team at 202-646-2600 or FEMA-IGA@fema.dhs.gov.
###
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