Release Number: HQ-05-175
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Michael D. Brown, Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Emergency Preparedness and Response and head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, announced that federal resources and support are continuing in four states as Hurricane Katrina makes its second landfall today.
President Bush declared federal emergencies in Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi on Sunday. A federal disaster was declared for southern Florida counties impacted by Katrina's first landfall on Friday.
"This hurricane has caused devastation over a wide area across four states," said Brown. "FEMA, along with our federal partners and state counterparts, is working 24 hours a day to support emergency protective response and recovery efforts in the impacted states."
As of early August 29, approximately 52,000 people were in 240 shelters in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida and Texas, with the majority in the New Orleans Superdome. Strategic housing planning is underway to address expected continued sheltering and eventual housing needs.
In addition to holding regular briefings with emergency management officials in the affected states, FEMA reported the following activities, as of 10 a.m. today, as part of the ongoing federal response.
- FEMA's emergency teams and resources
are being deployed and configured for coordinated response to Hurricane
Katrina. This includes pre-staging critical commodities such as ice, water,
meals, and tarps in various strategic locations to be made available to
residents of affected areas.
- FEMA's Hurricane Liaison Team is onsite
and working closely with the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Fla.
- FEMA's National Response Coordination
Center and Regional Response Coordination Centers in Atlanta, Ga., and
Denton, Texas, are operating around the clock, coordinating the prepositioning
of assets and responding to state requests for assistance.
- FEMA has deployed a National Emergency
Response Team to Louisiana with a coordination cell positioned at the State
Emergency Operations Center in Baton Rouge to facilitate state requests
for assistance. In addition, four Advance Emergency Response Teams have
been deployed to locations in Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. The teams
include federal liaisons who work directly within county emergency operations
centers to respond to critical needs as they are identified by local officials
and prioritized by the state.
- Rapid Needs Assessment teams have been
prestaged in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
- Nine Urban Search and Rescue task forces
and incident support teams have been deployed. The task forces are from
Florida, Virginia, Maryland, Texas, Tennessee, Indiana, Ohio, and Missouri.
- Thirty-one teams from the National Disaster
Medical System (NDMS) have been deployed to staging areas in Anniston,
Ala., Memphis, Tenn., Houston, Dallas, and New Orleans, including 23 Disaster
Medical Assistance Teams. The teams bring truckloads of medical equipment
and supplies with them and are trained to handle trauma, pediatrics, surgery
and mental health problems. Two Veterinary Medical Assistance Teams are
also included as part of NDMS assets deployed, which are able to support
and rescue pets, and provide any needed veterinary medical care for rescue
dogs.
- Voluntary agencies, important partners
in disasters, are prepared to augment local government services with shelters,
mobile feeding units, water and clean-up supplies.
- FEMA has 500 trucks of ice, 500 trucks of water and 350 trucks of meals ready to eat (MREs) available for distribution over the next 10 days.
FEMA prepares the nation for all hazards and manages federal response and recovery efforts following any national incident. FEMA also initiates mitigation activities, trains first responders, works with state and local emergency managers, and manages the National Flood Insurance Program and the U.S. Fire Administration. FEMA became part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on March 1, 2003.