After Ike: As Normalcy Returns In Some Communities, Actions Move Forward To Support Long-Term Recovery
Release Date: September 17, 2008
Release Number: HQ-08-221
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is coordinating the joint efforts of federal, tribal, state and local partners providing essential services and supplies to those still in need following the impact of Hurricane Ike.
FEMA is delivering life-saving and life-sustaining resources in support of state requests for federal assistance including commodities, teams and equipment. State, volunteer and federal resources at 63 points of distribution are handing out commodities with sufficient supplies available to meet demand.
In the Houston area and in many other communities, power and water are being restored and stores are opening. As restoration of services in these areas allow most residents to get back on their feet, assistance and recovery operations will focus on those who can not return home and who are most in need. Long-term recovery is already the focus of activities in Galveston and other coastal communities as well as for their residents who evacuated to other locations.
President Bush has declared major disasters in parts of Texas and Louisiana, making available federal funds to assist individuals and communities in their recovery. Individuals can register for assistance by calling 1-800-621-FEMA or at www.fema.gov. Registrations will remain open in the weeks to come to allow all those who need to register the time they need to apply for help. To date, 248,667 households have applied for assistance.
People will be anxious to return home, but everyone needs to be patient and to wait for local officials to indicate it is safe to do so. Residents in the affected areas are reminded that power, water, sewage and medical assistance may be limited in the aftermath of a storm; evacuees should wait to return until essential services are restored.
Anyone can help with the relief and recovery efforts. Companies and individuals can offer their support through the Aidmatrix Foundation's online portal, which is designed to make it as easy as possible to offer financial support, product donations, or to donate skills and time to nonprofit organizations active in disaster relief. To make a contribution or to volunteer, visit www.aidmatrixnetwork.org. You can also support the efforts through other charities, such as the American Red Cross at www.RedCross.org.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
- FEMA is supporting search and rescue operations and other life-saving and life-preserving activities.
- Individuals can register for assistance by calling 1-800-621-FEMA or at www.fema.gov. Registrations will remain open in the weeks to come to allow all those who need to register the time they need to apply for help. To date, 248,667 households have applied for assistance.
- FEMA is supporting Texas and Louisiana with millions of meals, millions of bottles of water; hundreds of generators; hundreds of thousands of blankets and cots; twenty five thousand rolls of plastic sheeting and eighteen thousand tarps.
- In support of local Points of Distribution (PODS) in the Houston area, yesterday FEMA distributed 1.9 million bottles of water, 5.3 million pounds of ice, and 1.9 million meals. This morning, FEMA deployed an additional 1 million bottles of water, 2.4 million pounds of ice, and 735,000 meals.
- Contracts have been activated to supplement existing resources without shifting resources from other disaster operations. FEMA is also working with the private sector and voluntary agencies to enhance their abilities to provide resources and support to communities.
U.S. Coast Guard (USCG)
- USCG's top priorities are search and rescue operations and the protection and safety of life at sea, both for mariners and residents of the Texas coast. USCG has nine fixed-wing and 25 rotary-wing air assets onsite, and five cutters are supporting these efforts.
- USCG has aircraft conducting search and rescue, port assessments, infrastructure damage assessments and prepared to respond to any oil spill/hazardous material pollution incidents.
- USCG is working to restore navigational and port operations. The ports of Houston, Galveston, Port Arthur/Beaumont, Lake Charles and Orange are open to shallow draft traffic with some restrictions. The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway is open from the Houston and Galveston area westward to Corpus Christi.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
- CBP has 77 personnel supporting joint federal missions. There are a total of 395 CBP Agents, Officers, and technical support personnel deployed to Texas to support operations.
- CBP's Border Patrol facilities are fully operational.
- Of CBP's 21 Ports and Air & Marine Facilities, 5 are currently evacuated, 7 are not currently operational, 6 are operational with limitations and 3 are fully operational. In addition 5 other facilities in the area are fully operational.
- Travelers and businesses should check www.CBP.gov for regular updates on which facilities are operating.
Transportation Security Administration (TSA)
- Transportation Security Officers continue to staff PODs assisting FEMA and Army Corps of Engineers with humanitarian efforts.
- TSA is continuing to deploy relief teams from airports around the country in an effort to provide coverage for local personnel to handle personal recovery efforts and to ensure continued operational support at both Houston Hobby and George Bush Intercontinental Airports.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
- HHS staff members are continuing hospital/nursing home assessments to ensure healthcare facilities have the support they need to return to normal operations so that patients can return as soon as possible.
- HHS personnel has been working closely with the Texas Department of Health Services to assess acute care needs in the affected communities in order to appropriately assign and allocate federal medical resources to support the state.
- More than 900 HHS medical personnel continue to support local public health and medical needs. These personnel are staffing 13 Disaster Medical Assistance Teams, 8 Strike Teams, 1 Patient Advocacy Team, 1 Disaster Mortuary Teams (DMORT) and 1 DMORT Disaster Portable Morgue Unit. Five DMORT assessments of cemeteries are on-going. Triage sites will be set up in Galveston and special needs individuals will be transported to Dallas.
- Two Federal Medical Stations with a 500 total bed capacity have been pre-positioned in Dallas to care for possible evacuees from Galveston. This facility at the Dallas Convention Center will be staffed by state assets.
- HHS continues to monitor public health issues, such as the potential for mosquito-borne illnesses, as well as the medical needs of residents as they return home.
- HHS continues to work with the state to assess mental health needs of those affected by Hurricane Ike.
- HHS will be providing applied public health staff to augment local public health departments in their on-going public health needs.
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
- CDC is working with the National Safety Council to distribute information about carbon monoxide poisoning prevention to their 17,000 members via email and voice messages. The information includes links to printable materials which we are encouraging these partners to distribute to their employees, constituents, communities, and others.
- CDC's message focuses on safety and health: follow local advisories about the safety of your water supply; avoid carbon monoxide poisoning; and protect yourself from mosquito bites and reduce the number of mosquitoes in your area.
U.S. National Guard Bureau (NGB)
- The Louisiana National Guard is manning 44 Points of Distribution throughout the state and have distributed more than 607,000 meals, 2.2 million gallons of water, and 150,000 pounds of ice.
- Louisiana National Guard members have cleared more than 20,800 cubic yards of debris from 4,800 miles of road.
- Equipped with more than 1,000 high-water vehicles and 50 aircraft, the Texas National Guard has rescued more than 3,540 people
U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA)
- SBA's Disaster Customer Service Center handled 2,370 phone calls yesterday. SBA has issued 108,449 applications in Texas and Louisiana. Already the Customer Service Center has received 470 electronic loan applications.
- SBA has 111 employees working in the Customer Service Center and 987 working in the agency's disaster loan Processing and Disbursement Center in Ft. Worth.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
- EPA has four teams conducting reconnaissance of impacted areas, including its Airborne Spectral Photometric Environmental Collection Technology (ASPECT) sampling plane, a general damage/chemical release assessment team, a ground reconnaissance team and a team with the multi-agency Texas Task Force Ike.
- EPA has safety tips posted on its web site about returning to residences in the hurricane area, operating portable generators and preparing safe drinking water. Other tips include how to drive safely to avoid road debris and high water, how to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning and how to disinfect private drinking water wells. This information and more is available at www.epa.gov/hurricane and www.dhs.gov.
- The public should report oil spills and hazardous substance releases to the EPA's National Response Center at 1-800-424-8802.
U.S. Department of Interior (DOI)
- DOI's Minerals Management Service (MMS) reports that 28 of the 3,800 offshore oil and gas production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico have been destroyed and several other platforms have been reported as significantly damaged. Most of the destroyed platforms include older facilities with small levels of production, estimated to total 11,000 barrels of oil per day and 82 million cubic feet of gas per day. Early reports indicate that there is some pipeline damage, the full extent of which will not be available until operators are able to test the systems. Three jack-up drilling rigs were also destroyed and one jack-up drilling rig received extensive damage. Two drilling rigs that had been reported adrift on Sept. 13, 2008 have been secured by tugs.
- MMS also is reporting that approximately 95.9 % of the oil production and 82.3 % of the natural gas production in the Gulf are shut-in. 425 production platforms, equivalent to 59.3 % of the 717 manned platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, remain evacuated. Personnel from 50 rigs are evacuated; this is equivalent to 41.3 % of the 121 rigs currently operating in the Gulf.
- DOI's National Park Service is supporting search and rescue efforts with 22 boat crews based in Texas and, working with DOI's U.S. Geological Survey, 5 boat crews based in Louisiana.
The American Red Cross (ARC)
- ARC continues to support feeding and sheltering efforts to those in the affected areas. In Texas, 15 kitchens and five fixed sites are providing hot meals that are being distributed by 126 mobile feeding trucks. In Louisiana, five kitchens are serving hot meals being distributed by more than 100 mobile feeding trucks, which are going deep into communities to provide food, water, toiletries and clean-up kits.
- ARC provided blood products - approximately 120 units - to two Houston area hospitals due to loss of blood products after the storm.
- ARC mental health professionals from across the country are providing emotional support, psycho-educational information, crisis intervention and referral services for those affected.
- Additional information on ARC activities, service delivery and guidance can be found on our Online Newsroom: hurricaneike.wordpress.com/
U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)
- DOJ's Disaster Fraud Hotline continues to operate. Members of the public can report fraud, waste, abuse or allegations of mismanagement involving disaster relief operations through the Disaster Fraud Hotline at 866-720-5721, the Disaster Fraud Fax at 225-334-4707 or the Disaster Fraud e-mail at disaster@leo.gov. Individuals can also report criminal activity to the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or www.fbi.gov.
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
- The Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center in Houston has resumed normal operations. All primary care and specialty care clinics at the main VA hospital in Houston are open. The following VA Outpatient Clinics remain closed at this time: Beaumont, Galveston and Texas City.
- The Houston VA Regional Office and all National Cemeteries in the area are open.
- Evacuated veterans with urgent care needs may contact any VA facility across the country by dialing 1-800-507-4571. This telephone number may also be used by families and friends requiring information about patients from those VA facilities affected the hurricane. Veterans may call with questions such as where to access health care, how to receive their prescription drugs, or any other concerns they may have about their care.
Department of Labor (DOL)
- DOL has income support and employment resources for workers whose jobs may be impacted, temporally or permanently, by the hurricane.
- Workers who are temporarily or permanently unemployed as a result of the Hurricane can contact the DOL's national toll-free hotline, 1-866-4-USA-DOL, or 1-866-487-2365 to connect with state and local officials in their states that can help them apply for income support and employment benefits.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
- NOAA aircraft are flying damage assessment missions - imagery is available online at http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/ike/.
- NOAA navigation response crews have completed most of the waterway surveys in the affected areas. They continue survey work in the Sabine Pass.
U.S. General Services Administration (GSA)
- GSA has a seven-person Realty Strike Team in the region to facilitate leases for Disaster Recovery Centers.
- A list of Federal Building closures can be found at www.GSA.gov.
FEMA coordinates the federal government's role in preparing for, preventing, mitigating the effects of, responding to, and recovering from all domestic disasters, whether natural or man-made, including acts of terror. For more information on FEMA activities visit www.FEMA.gov and for more information on personal preparedness see www.Ready.gov.
Last Modified: Thursday, 18-Sep-2008 08:43:04