Public Safety. Survivors Urged to Listen to Local Officials and Only Return Home When Safe October 13, 2018

U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Federal Emergency Management Agency
FEMA Office of External Affairs,
Private Sector Engagement
FEMA-IGA@fema.dhs.gov

Private Sector Advisory

Survivors Urged to Listen to Local Officials and Only Return Home When Safe

October 13, 2018

 Safety Messages for the Public

• Stay safe and follow local guidance. Do not return home until you are told it is safe. Be aware of blocked roads and possible structural, electrical or gas-leak hazards. Shut off power natural gas and propane tanks if you know how.

• Monitor the weather. Avoid strenuous cleanup work during the warmest part of the day, use insect repellent, and stay away from wild or stay animals. Check with utility companies to find out when electricity and gas services may be restored.
• Ensure food and water are safe. Water can be contaminated or unsafe. Be prepared to boil water to drink, cook or clean with after a hurricane.
• File an insurance claim. Photograph/video damages before you start cleaning up. Contact your insurance company for assistance.
• Send money, not stuff. Cash can be used immediately in response to a crisis. A financial contribution to a recognized disaster relief organization is the most effective donation to make.
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FEMA Operational Items:

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.

Four Disaster Support Assistance (DSA) Teams have deployed to provide support to Florida shelters, and six DSA-trained FEMA Corps teams have mobilized to the affected area.

 Safety and Security

FEMA US&R

• To date, FEMA US&R teams completed 40 evacuations, 24 assists, 3,447 shelter in place checks, 33 animal assists, and 3,789 structural assessments.

 U.S. Department of Defense

• U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) has provided personnel and equipment from the U.S. Department of Defense to assist in response efforts.
• DoD has moved personnel and cargo in the affected areas, is providing rotary wing aircraft, swift water boats and rescue personnel.
• DoD has assets have been mobilized for assignment; 32 rotary wing assets, 6 fixed wing, 17 swift water vessels, and up to 160 high-water-vehicles.

• NOAA law enforcement has provided 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

• 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 has resourced 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.

1. S. Coast Guard

• USCG has completed 488 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

• Florida has released U.S. Department of Agriculture foods in 35 affected counties for use at shelters, canteens and mobile kitchens.

• The American Red Cross plans to distribute emergency supplies to a maximum of 9,000 households beginning October 17

• 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 2,800 evacuees spent the night in 27 shelters in Florida.
• In Alabama, 56 people stayed in three shelters overnight.

• Georgia has three shelters open, and Georgia State Parks and Atlanta Motor Speedway facilities may become available for evacuees. Overnight, 148 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.
• At the state’s request, FEMA has released more than 700,000 meals and more than 1.7 million liters of water to Florida to supplement local resources.

Health and Medical

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 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.
• Five mobile medical strike teams are engaged across Florida in medical missions like US&R operations, supporting damaged critical facilities, and in shelters.
• In Georgia, HHS currently has 60 ambulances staged and reports 7 hospitals and 20 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).

  

Energy (Power and Fuel)

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.

 Communications

• Nine 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 transportation infrastructure and road closures in the affected area.

• Federal and State DOTs are assessing transportation infrastructure impacted by Hurricane Michael. Road maintenance crews throughout the affected regions are partnering with utility, medical and search and rescue teams to clear critical access routes.

Hazardous Waste

• The Environmental Protection Agency identified priority oil and chemical facilities and sites that might require assessment. 

Federal, State, Tribal and Local Efforts

• Sixteen different states are sending support through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact. More than 26 missions are active in both Florida and Georgia with more than 430 people deployed to assist.

• NOAA has collected aerial images of the Florida panhandle and are available on www.NOAA.gov.
• NOAA issued Storm Quicklooks for Michael, which provided near real-time information about water levels and winds. NOAA will be validating storm surge observations from this historic event.

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 Oct. 12 for Alabama which provides funding to supplement state, tribal and local response efforts ahead of Hurricane Michael.
• 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. 
• 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.

• 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. 

If you have any questions, please contact FEMA’s Office of External Affairs, Private Sector Engagement team, at FEMA-IGA@fema.dhs.gov or 202-646-2600.