Hurricane Floyd Effects Continue
Pacific NW Pitches In
Release Date: September 18, 1999
Release Number: R10-99-54
Seattle, Wash. -- Recently downgraded to a tropical storm, and soon expected to be off the screens entirely, Hurricane Floyd's residual weather effects continue to plague the East Coast with flooding and supersaturated soils.
Presidential emergency and disaster recovery operations are underway up and down the eastern seaboard, and in deploying disaster response specialists to support state and local emergency activities from Florida to Pennsylvania, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reached out to field offices from as far away as Alaska and Washington. According to FEMA Regional Director David L. de Courcy, Pacific Northwest resources began flowing early-on.
"Our Bothell Mobile Emergency Response Support detachment began deploying emergency technicians to Atlanta, Georgia, Denton, Texas and Washington D.C. days before Hurricane Floyd made landfall, and has continued to deploy support staff and equipment to Texas and Louisiana, to free up local staff for more direct response activities," said de Courcy. "In addition, Region 10 deployed an Emergency Response Team of over 30 full-time employees and reservists to activate and staff the Disaster Field Office in Atlanta."
Operating under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Act, FEMA coordinates relief efforts during Presidential Disaster Declarations. The Federal Response Plan includes 28 federal agencies and the American Red Cross. "Our region includes Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington, but when disaster strikes we're all one agency, and more," said de Courcy. "We work in close partnership with all the players. It's a case where the whole is much more than the sum of the parts."
Last Modified: Friday, 09-Jan-2004 15:59:14