Hurricane Liaison Team
Fact Sheet
National Hurricane Program e-mail updates
The Hurricane Liaison Team (HLT) is a Department of Homeland Security’s
Federal Emergency Management Agency -sponsored team made up of federal,
state, and local emergency managers who have extensive hurricane
operational experience.
The director of the National Hurricane Center (NHC) can request the HLT be
activated whenever tropical storms threaten. The HLT then deploys to the
National Hurricane Center on the campus of Florida International University
in Miami, Fla. Once there, team members function as a bridge between
scientists, meteorologists and the emergency managers who respond if the
storm threatens the United States or its territories.
Team members provide immediate and critical storm information to
government agency decision makers at all levels to help them prepare for their
response operations, which may include evacuations, sheltering, and
mobilizing equipment. State and/or local officials, not the HLT, make
decisions concerning evacuations.
The HLT concept originated because of the volume of storms in the active
1995 hurricane season, and the increase in requests by state and local
governments for timely information from the National Hurricane Center.
The team’s creation evolved from the need for the emergency management
community to be kept updated on the growth of movements of storms and
because of the increasing population of the nation’s coastal areas.
Last Modified: Thursday, 15-Nov-2007 09:34:25 EST