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Release Date: September 12, 2008
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
Contact: 202-282-8010
Secretary Chertoff: Good afternoon. I'm here with Administrator Paulison of FEMA, Rear Admiral Brian Salerno of the U.S. Coast Guard, Rear Admiral Craig Vanderwagen of Health and Human Services, Kevin Kolevar, an assistant secretary from the Department of Energy, and Joe Becker, senior vice president of disaster services for the American Red Cross. I'd like to give you the latest update as to where we are with Hurricane Ike.
As you know, Hurricane Ike is a very serious and very dangerous storm in the Gulf. The size, strength, and current path of the storm have the potential to produce catastrophic -- let me repeat that -- catastrophic effects and to threaten the lives and safety of citizens along the Texas coast and the western part of Louisiana. This storm is so big, in fact, that its impact is already being felt along the Gulf Coast from Louisiana into Texas including flooding, storm surge, and high winds. And this is only going to continue to intensify during the hours to come.
The Coast Guard is already conducting rescues to help individuals in distress. Several hundred individuals on the Bolivar Peninsula near Galveston were stranded, and the Coast Guard has deployed 16 helicopters and two DOD Ospreys to remove as many of those people as possible. I think there remain 100 to 120 people still on that peninsula, and we're continuing rescue operations.
Unfortunately, we also tried to commence rescue operations on a freighter that's about -- some distance off the shore that's disabled. We were unable to get the helicopters there because the intensity of the storm made it unsafe to fly. We will continue to work to do everything humanly possible to rescue the crew members on that freighter.
As we saw with Hurricane Gustav, the best way to avoid having to be rescued is to follow instructions of state and local officials and either evacuate when you're told to do so or, in the case of those people who are in an area that is already past the point of safe evacuation, to shelter in place with food and water that allow you to ride out the storm.
It appears that some people disregarded the mandate to evacuate from some of the low-lying areas. Those people will have to do the best they can to find a safe place to hide and keep themselves out of harm's way. And again, I remind them that food, water, medicine, and a radio with a battery or crank will be indispensable tools as you await rescue if in fact rescue is necessary.
We may be facing some very serious storm surge. And to put this in perspective, right now the storm is a Category 2. It may get to a Category 3. But the discussion of wind intensity is a little bit misleading. The power of this storm is going to be not just wind. It's going to be water. And because this storm is hundreds of miles across and a bigger storm, frankly, than Katrina was in terms of the area of its footprint, the storm surge is going to be the single most dangerous element in the near term for public safety and public welfare.
We're talking about potential storm surge in the Galveston Bay area of 16 to 18 feet or more. As we get to the northeast, into the area of Beaumont and Port Arthur, we could be talking about a surge that exceeds 25 feet. So we're going to have very serious flooding in low-lying areas.
Already we have seen significant flooding as far as Louisiana, where some of the non-federal levies have been overtopped and where there continues to be rising water. They have in fact closed the canal gates to the 17th Street Canal, the London Canal, and to other affected canals in the area. So we're going to continue to watch this all along the coast.
As this storm impacts the area and intensifies over the hours later this evening into the early morning, we are continuing to work closely with our state and local authorities to prepare for moderate recovery once the storm winds pass. Emergency responders and commodities at the local, state, and federal level are staged and in place in the vicinity so we can follow the storm and begin immediate rescue operations.
FEMA's federally coordinated support to the states of Texas and Louisiana is working. We have planned it together, we have rehearsed it together, and we are prepared to execute this together. We have got literally dozens of airframes. We've got high water vehicles. We've got boats. And all of this will be coordinated in Texas under Texas Task Force One so we can have a unified command element with respect to the deployment of all of the search and rescue assets. I can assure you that as soon as it is safe, the Coast Guard, the Department of Defense, the National Guard, and the Texas authorities will be putting helicopters in the air and boats in the water to make sure that we can save people.
But people should be prepared to shelter in place until rescue comes if in fact they are unable to move themselves, and to be very careful about the hazards that are out there, both water hazards, downed power lines, and other potential threats to life and limb. Better be safe than sorry as this storm passes.
I also have to say that people should be prepared for some very significant disruptions in the aftermath of this storm. We should have over 100,000 residences that are inundated or affected by flooding. There may be millions of people who are without power in the short term, depending on the precise impact of the storm on transmission lines and other power generation facilities. We're going to have a lot of debris that we're going to have to remove. So all of this is going to make the 24/48/72 hours after the storm very challenging.
Therefore, I want to remind people again, if they have any time to do this, to make sure they've got their drinking water, food, and essential supplies to last for several days because it's better to be safe in place waiting to be rescued than out foraging for supplies in what will be a hazardous and dynamic environment.
For those of you who are not in a threatened area who are asking themselves how they can help the people of the Gulf, you can help certainly by donating to the American Red Cross and other voluntary organizations. Those who don't have money but want to contribute in kind can do so through Aidmatrix, which is an online service that allows us to match up people who have non-monetary items to give with organizations that are in need of that kind of a contribution.
I want to thank those of you who have taken in your fellow citizens, sheltering them in your homes, in churches, and in other community facilities. It's very important that you continue to give your support over the next several days to those who have been displaced by the storm.
Our nation is facing what is, by any measure, a potentially catastrophic hurricane. It's not a time again to play chicken with the storm or to take risks with the storm. It is the time to make sure that you and your family are adequately provided for. We will move in as swiftly as possible to relieve the suffering, to save lives, and to then work very hard across all levels of government and with the private sector to get power up and running as soon as possible, food and water to those who need it, health facilities and health services to those who are sick and injured, and again, to begin the process of recovery as quickly as possible.
And now I'm going to turn to Administrator Paulison to discuss FEMA's particular preparations.
Administrator Paulison: Thank you, Mr. Secretary, and thank you for being here today.
I've been working very hard with all the states in the Gulf Coast to make sure that they are ready. Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, the parish leadership, the communities, and emergency managers at all levels that I've seen are working very hard with a great speed and deduction to make sure that their community is ready. I'm quite frankly very pleased with what I've seen.
As the Secretary said, the state of Texas has deployed Texas Task Force Ike and their search and rescue task force, and has over a thousand people, a thousand rescuers, from state, federal, and local levels that are part of that team. They're ready to move very quickly after the storm passes. They're prepositioned to do search and rescue. The assets are on the ground. And our primary focus right now is going to be lifesaving efforts.
The Secretary talked about their rescue effort of the freighter out there and the people on Port Bolivar who did not evacuate like they were told to do, and now we are putting rescuers in harm's way to get them off of that island.
We're going to be focusing on several things: obviously, immediate search and rescue to get those people who did not evacuate and are caught in harm's way; working for people who have been displaced; working with the Energy Secretary you're going to hear from in a few minutes; working with infrastructure pieces; immediate shelter and housing -- we have a lot of people in shelters out there; in Texas alone, over 600,000 people evacuated; in Louisiana, we had 138,000 people evacuate to move to safe harbor.
We have security people in place. The National Guard has been deployed. Over 3,500 officers have come in through EMAC. We're putting our debris removal plans in place to make sure that the Corps of Engineers contractors are ready; as soon as the winds die down, we'll start that debris removal process.
We're going to be working with schools and hospitals to make sure they have power to open up. We know school has already started. We want to get those back up and operating as quickly as possible.
We've put several different communications systems down there, not only us but the National Guard and NORTHCOM, to make sure that we can provide communications to those local first responders should they lose their communications systems.
Continuity in government is a big issue. I don't know that that's going to happen here, but we want to make sure that these governments are up and running and can manage their communities as we go through.
The Secretary mentioned the Aidmatrix system. That's very important. All four of those states are using it. It's a great system to if you have contributions to make, and you can also see what the needs are so you don't get stuff that's really not needed.
And then lastly, our family locator and missing children system is in place, and you can go to our website to access that, to either locate family members or register yourself so that you can tell your family members where you are.
We have prepositioned over 3,500 people from the federal family in Texas and Louisiana in dozens of pre-staged locations. The Secretary talked about prepositioned commodities. I mentioned some of those yesterday. We have surrounded Houston and the area with pre-staged water, food, cots, blankets, and tarps, blue roofs, to make sure that as soon as the wind has died down, we can respond as quickly as possible to the needs of the citizens in there.
I think one of the most important things is to let you know that we are working together as partners, just like we did with Gustav. This has been a great partnership for all of us. It is a team effort. It is using a unified command system, making sure we're all sharing information. We are -- I say "we" as collectively we -- the local, state, and federal governments are working together as a team, and we are as prepositioned as possible and ready for this storm as possible. Now we're just going to have to wait and see what happens and make sure that we're ready to respond as soon as these winds die down.
So Kevin?
Assistant Secretary Kolevar: Thanks, Chief.
Good afternoon, everyone. The Department of Energy is working closely with our federal and state partners and the energy sector companies in the Gulf to assist in preparation for Hurricane Ike's landfall, and quickly respond to and facilitate recovery and restoration efforts. As you would expect, offshore oil and natural gas production in the Gulf region have been significantly affected. Currently, 97 percent of the Gulf's petroleum production is offline; 93 percent of the Gulf's natural gas production is offline.
The department's pre-landfall modeling anticipates an electricity outage affecting approximately 3.1 million customers. This equates to about 7.8 million people.
There are 17 refineries along the Texas coast from Corpus Christi to Beaumont. Thirteen have shut down in preparation for landfall; the others are at reduced runs. As was the case with Gustav, the companies that operate these facilities are closely watching the storm and will work to have assessment teams reenter their facilities as soon as possible. In some cases, this may be late tomorrow, more likely Sunday.
Given the significant number of refineries that have shut down and the reduced level of production in the lower Mississippi and Louisiana region, we expect to see constrained supplies of refined products. This constraint will be felt in the Gulf region and the East Coast from Washington, D.C. down. The extent and duration of such constraints will depend on the extent of damage, if any, to the Texas refineries. We should know more about the extent of those impacts this weekend.
The administration will utilize every tool at our disposal to lessen the likelihood of limited fuel supplies and to mitigate the impacts. As the department has already demonstrated, we stand ready to release crude from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve when and where necessary to ensure refineries are capable of maintaining operations. To date, SPR oil has been released to two companies as a result of damages experienced by Hurricane Gustav, one to Marathon and one to Placid Oil. DOE is currently in discussions with two additional companies who have requested emergency exchanges as a result of Hurricane Gustav. Arrangements have not yet been finalized; that should happen shortly.
Yesterday the Environmental Protection Agency approved the temporary waiver of certain federal gasoline requirements for gasoline sold or distributed in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas to allow the use of winter fuel throughout the region. This waiver will allow greater flexibility and additional supply for fuel distribution systems in those states.
The department is also in close contact with our partners in the IEA. We have initiated discussions with our partners regarding the possible release of refined products from their reserves. As I mentioned earlier, the assessment phase won't begin until tomorrow evening at the earliest after the hurricane has moved inland. We will continue to gather information on the status of the energy sector and report on it regularly. Thank you.
Moderator: As I call on your for questions, I ask you to identify your name and your news organization. So do we have a question?
Question: Jeannie Ohm with NBC News. Secretary Chertoff, do you at this point have any sense, a quick percentage, on how many people of Houston you do not think are going through evacuation?
Secretary Chertoff: I'd be guessing. Obviously, we know there were several hundred people in Port Bolivar that did not heed the evacuation mandate and we're in the process of rescuing them. I see from watching television there appear to be people who decided to ride it out. I think a majority of people obviously did heed it, based on traffic flow, but regrettably, we're going to find out after the storm passes how many did not take that instruction.
Question: Jason Ryan with ABC News. Is it a possibility with the storm surge that Galveston will be completely underwater at some point?
Secretary Chertoff: I don't know that it will be completely underwater. But I've seen modeling, and modeling, of course, is a prediction, that suggests that depending on the exact nature of the surge, you could have much or most of Galveston underwater for at least a period of time.
Moderator: Next question.
Question: Dave Michaels of the Dallas Morning News. How widespread do you expect the power outages to be, and any sense at this point of how long?
Secretary Chertoff: We're estimating several million households could be affected. And if you looked at the experience we had in Rita and in Katrina, that would seem to be a pretty reasonable expectation. Again, the exact number is going to depend upon the effect of the surge and the effect of the wind, which are going to impact the power lines, transmission, and the other elements of that system.
Moderator: Excuse me. Behind you.
Question: Pam Babson from CNN. How long is the surge expected to last? Is that something that will flood and remain for a lengthy period of time? Will that recede quickly? Any sense of how long it will be?
Secretary Chertoff: I think the surge is moving forward as we speak. At some point tomorrow, particularly as the tide goes out, the surge will begin to retreat. One of the issues will become drainage. Areas where there's ready drainage back to the Gulf will actually clear relatively quickly. Those areas where the water pools in an area, let's say, on the other side of a levee or a barrier are going to have to be pumped out. And one of the things we're talking to the Army Corps of Engineers about is making sure that they are bringing in all the pumps and dewatering capabilities from around the country that we can stage in order to support local pumping and dewatering capabilities.
Moderator: Yes. Siobhan?
Question: Siobhan Brennan, Wall Street Journal. Administrator Paulison had mentioned that you're essentially sort of as prepared as you're going to be at this point. I mean, what are your plans for between now and the time that Ike hits landfall? I mean, are there further things that you're going to be doing or --
Secretary Chertoff: Well, Ike is actually in the process of making landfall and we've got tropical storm winds. We're obviously going to continue to monitor. As I indicated, we have suspended some rescues. Obviously, we're not going to fly when we're putting everybody's life in danger in the rescue process. We'll continue to move and stage rescue assets, dewatering assets like pumps, and other capabilities in the vicinity, but we're not going to enter the zone. We're in the period perhaps where we're going to be doing a lot of watching and waiting, but we’re going to be poised and ready to jump back in once the winds get to a level that permit us to begin operations.
Question: Question on the levees in Louisiana. You received an update on the statuses and conditions. Earlier today, there were some reports about some possible breaches in southern Plaquemines Parish.
Secretary Chertoff: Yes, we did get an update about an hour or so ago. It looks, again as of an hour ago and this can always change, that we have had some overtopping and impact on some of the non-federal levees, including in Plaquemines Parish and some of the other lower-lying areas. Currently, authorities are working to deflood and make sure nobody is in the danger zone there.
In terms of the federal levees, as I said, the 17th Street Canal gate has been closed, the London Canal gate has been closed, the Harvey Canal floodgate has been closed, and I think Jefferson Parish closed the Company Canal barge gate, so steps have been taken to prevent surge from coming in, particularly from the lake. Again, we’re going to monitor this on a regular basis because the water is still moving and we’re still in a surge situation.
Moderator: Is there another question in the room?
Question: Can we get more information from the Coast Guard on the rescues that have been taking place in the Bolivar Peninsula? We’ve seen some of the dramatic pictures. If you can just kind of give us more of a detailed description of what’s happening.
Rear Admiral Salerno: Yes. The Coast Guard has been rescuing people that were trapped on the Bolivar Peninsula, as has been mentioned. Coast Guard aircraft have rescued 65 people. I believe there were additional people rescued by other agencies. So it’s been a combined effort.
As far as the ship offshore, two helicopters were involved in the attempt to remove crew members from that vessel, as well as two B-22 Ospreys provided by the Marine Corps. But as was mentioned, those crew members remain onboard. The wind conditions had reached about 80 knots which really exceeded the ability of those helicopters to remove people from the decks.
We’re at the point now where, as the Secretary mentioned, the wind conditions are getting to the point where we have to tie down the helicopters. And so people who -- if anybody is out on the Bolivar Peninsula at this point, I think the likelihood of being rescued by an aircraft is rapidly waning.
Moderator: Operator, we have time for two questions from the phone line, please.
Operator: Our first question comes from Spencer Hume, the Washington Post.
Mr. Hume: Thanks. The Secretary said yesterday that it’s close to a nightmare scenario or worst case scenario. With the additional day’s information, does that look better or worse or maybe the same? Can you articulate what the impact might be on energy or petrochemical supplies? Do people think in terms of days or weeks? And then finally, after Katrina and Rita, there was some environmental reports of a lot of spills, tanks that weren’t tied down or that had open tops, and so on. Any sense of what the likely environmental impact might be from the surge that is now forecast? Thanks.
Secretary Chertoff: I’ll deal with some of those and then I’ll ask the Assistant Secretary of Energy to deal with the issue of the refineries.
In terms of size of the storm, in terms of the location of impact, this is a very, very bad scenario. Obviously if it was even a more intense storm, it would be worse, but I think this certainly falls in the category of pretty much a worst case scenario for having a hurricane impact in the Gulf area.
What that’s going to mean is we’re going to be facing a lot of flooding. That’s going to have a continued impact with respect to the ability to get people back. People may be displaced for a significant period of time, depending on how quickly the water flows out and what the actual lay of the inundation is, which we won’t know until we see the results of what happens in the next 24 hours.
In terms of environmental impact, we have no reason to predict spills, but it is certainly the experience we’ve had, that when you have a large-scale surge, you have a lot of wind, there is a very real risk of environmental hazards, spills or other kinds of pollution effects. We’ve been advised that the companies are taking steps to secure hazardous material and to batten down the hatches. Whether they’re totally successfully or not remains to be seen.
In terms of when we can expect energy to be back up, Kevin, I don’t know if you want to add something.
Mr. Kolevar: Well, sir, as you know, this is a very difficult question to answer. We haven’t seen the full impact of the storm yet. We do know that there will be constrained supply, much like we saw constrained supply in the wake of Hurricane Rita three years ago. We saw that in this region for a couple of days. And so given the scenario we see playing out now, we think that we will see a similar situation in the near term, at least, and we will see what kind of reports come back when those reentry teams go back into the facilities in Texas. And we’ll see how quickly the refineries in the lower Mississippi area, the lower Louisiana area are able to get back online.
Moderator: Operator, we can take a second final question from the phone line and then we’ll finish with one question in the room.
Operator: Our next question comes from Jeff Bliss at Bloomberg News.
Mr. Bliss: Yes. Mr. Secretary, if you could just say -- obviously you’ve been dealing with several different storms in the area. Is there any concern -- and perhaps Administrator Paulison can answer this as well -- are there any concerns about a shortage in any supplies or personnel in dealing with all these storms?
Secretary Chertoff: Well, right now we have more than adequate supplies on hand in the pipeline to deal with what we anticipate, even in a worst case scenario, as coming up with respect to Hurricane Ike. Now obviously, again, since we don’t know the full dimensions of the storm and we recognize there will be follow-on as this storm moves into the eastern part of Texas and then further north, we’re going to continue to make sure that we keep the pump moving.
Nevertheless, it’s been a very, very vigorous storm season. It’s been a challenging storm season, and we’re going to have to work hard to make sure that we are continuing to replenish our stocks. One of the things that’s important is if we can get the power up and running locally as soon as possible. That’s going to allow grocery stores, supermarkets, to open up. That’s going to take some of the pressure off our need to provide commodities. But it’s an issue we’re monitoring very closely and we’re going to keep tabs on over the next few days.
Dave, did you want --
Administrator Paulison: I think the Secretary is right on target. We have plenty of supplies we’re moving on. Told you yesterday we had two and a half million MREs already in Texas, and we’re moving another three and a half million in there to make sure that we have that.
Also, the Red Cross is setting up feeding kitchens and they’re planning on being able to, within 72 hours, be able to feed a half a million people a day with their feeding kitchens. So between us, the Red Cross, the other volunteer agencies, there’s going to be plenty of food in the area.
As far as personnel, we have ten regions out there. We have not tapped all of those yet. We still have a lot of people. Don’t forget, based on support from the Secretary and the President and the Congress, we were able to double the size of FEMA since Katrina, and that has really given us a tremendous asset and a lot of backstop with people. And we’ve brought in a lot of trained people, a lot of experts in their field. So we’re in good shape with personnel.
Moderator: We do have a final question in the room. Yes, ma’am?
Question: This is to the Red Cross. You had financial issues after Gustav with having to borrow money. Do you have sufficient resources and supplies to handle what could be a devastating storm?
Mr. Becker: That’s accurate in that the Red Cross did borrow the money to respond to Hurricane Gustav, and we’re projecting our costs for that storm to be between $40 and $70 million. And frankly, our fundraising to date has been less than 10 million. And so we’re going into Ike in the hole, and Ike obviously could make Gustav look small.
We’re working with our banks and the folks that we borrow money from to make sure that we have the capacity to borrow, But ultimately, we need Americans to see the need in the Gulf, to see the work that’s being done by the Red Cross and other voluntary organizations, and to help. We need people to go to www.redcross.org and make a gift right now so that we can be there to respond to the need.
Secretary Chertoff: Let me just conclude by thanking not only the people up here but the numerous other federal agencies who are working very closely with state and local partners. The Department of Defense has really put an enormous amount of effort and an enormous number of assets into play and they will continue to support us. The President is closely monitoring what’s going on. I spoke to him a couple of times today. Administrator Paulison did. So the whole Federal Government is focused on backing state and local officials in doing the very best they can to mitigate the effects of the storm and to begin the process of recovery as soon as possible.
Question: Secretary Chertoff, I see you’re going to Texas tomorrow. Do you know where yet?
Secretary Chertoff: We’re going to kind of -- I am going to go tomorrow. We are going to try to figure out where the storm is, so we don’t fly right into it. But I look forward to being on the ground as close as I can reasonably be to the affected area by tomorrow evening.
Moderator: Thank you, everyone. That concludes our briefing.
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This page was last reviewed/modified on September 12, 2008.