Hurricane Milton is forecasted to impact the Western coast of the Florida peninsula this week. As communities across the Southeast – including in Florida – continue their road to recovery and rebuilding after Hurricane Helene, the Biden-Harris Administration is mobilizing additional resources and personnel to prepare for the impacts of this new major storm.
The Federal government is preparing to support affected communities wherever and whenever needed. Preparedness efforts are underway in conjunction with state and local partners. Together we stand ready to respond to any potential impacts on communities.
FEMA has sufficient funding to both support the response to Hurricane Milton and continue to support the response to Hurricane Helene– including funding to support first responders and provide immediate assistance to disaster survivors.
Today, President Biden quickly approved the Governor of Florida’s request for an emergency declaration. Under an emergency declaration, FEMA provides direct Federal support to states for life-saving activities and other emergency protective measures, such as evacuation, sheltering, and search and rescue.
President Biden was first briefed yesterday on Hurricane Milton’s potential impacts to the Florida Gulf Coast and the work FEMA is doing to preposition life-saving resources in advance of the storm. He is also receiving another briefing today from Homeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall.
The Administration has been in touch with officials from the State of Florida, as well as more than 15 local officials in cities and counties along the likely path of impact, to ensure needs are met in advance of the storm. FEMA has been coordinating closely with Tampa Mayor Jane Castor’s team ahead of FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell’s visit to Tampa today. The Administration has also reached out to state officials in South Carolina and Georgia and will continue outreach efforts based on Hurricane Milton’s latest trajectory.
Florida residents are urged to stay alert, listen to local officials, and make additional preparations as needed.
Pre-landfall actions taken thus far include:
Pre-Positioning Resources and Personnel
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is flying Hurricane Hunters into the current storm to gather data to models and help hone prediction of the storm’s track and timing.
FEMA has pre-staged personnel and resources in Florida and the region, including six FEMA Incident Management Assistance Teams, five FEMA Urban Search & Rescue teams, three U.S. Coast Guard Swift Water Rescue teams, four HealthCare System Assessment Teams, two U.S Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) temporary power teams, USACE debris experts, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and wastewater experts, 300 ambulances and 30 High Water Vehicles with ladders from the Department of Defense.
Additionally, FEMA has two incident staging bases with commodities including food and water. Right now, FEMA currently has 20 million meals and 40 million liters of water in the pipeline to deploy as needed used to address ongoing Helene and Milton response efforts with capacity to expand as needed.
Currently, a total of nearly 900 staff are already supporting recovery efforts based out of the Joint Field Office in Tallahassee and operating across the designated counties for hurricanes Helene, Debby and Idalia. This includes over 440 supporting Hurricane Helene recovery, over 300 supporting Hurricane Debby recovery, and over 100 supporting Hurricane Idalia recovery.
Expediting Debris Removal in Florida
Debris remaining from the impacts of Hurricane Helene poses additional threats to lives and livelihoods if another storm occurs. FEMA is supporting the State of Florida to expedite the removal of debris from Hurricane Helene in the Tampa region in advance of Hurricane Milton’s landfall.
FEMA is providing all flexibility available for reimbursement for debris removal activities, to help the State take whatever action is required to speed debris removal before Milton’s landfall. To that end, FEMA is supporting Florida in surging additional resources to the Tampa area to get as much debris picked up as possible. State-run debris management sites are open 24 hours a day, and contracted trucks can deliver debris to those sites around the clock.
The Governor of Florida has additionally activated 4,000 State active-duty National Guard, many of whom will help with debris removal.
Pre-Landfall Preparations Supplement Ongoing Helene Response
The Administration continues to mobilize a whole-of-government response to the impacts of Hurricane Helene. Yesterday, President Biden ordered another 500 active-duty troops with advanced technological assets to move into Western North Carolina and assist with the response and recovery efforts. With a total of 1,500 troops now supplementing a robust on-the-ground effort – including more than 6,100 National Guards and more than 7,000 Federal personnel – the Administration is sparing no resource to support families as they begin their road to rebuilding.
The Administration has already helped thousands of Hurricane Helene survivors jumpstart their recoveries with more than $210 million in Federal assistance – and there is more to come. Over the last several days, the Administration has contacted nearly 450 state, city, and county officials in impacted States to ensure they have the support and resources they need. To date, FEMA has shipped over 15.6 million meals, more than 13.9 million liters of water, more than 505,000 tarps to the region, and installed 157 generators at critical facilities such as hospitals and water treatment plants.
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