WASHINGTON — As weather experts are continuing to track Dorian’s progress and its potential impact to the Southeast U.S., the Federal Emergency Management Agency is doing the same.
- Hurricane Dorian is moving toward U.S. mainland
- FEMA already has resources, personnel on the ground
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“It has the potential of being a very dangerous storm that could impact a lot of our East Coast,” said Jeff Byard, FEMA Associate Administrator for the Office of Response and Emergency Management in an interview with Spectrum News.
Hundreds at FEMA’s headquarters in Washington D.C. are working around the clock inside the National Response Coordination Center. There are resources and personnel already on the ground in both Puerto Rico and in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
“We, our interagency partners, our governmental partners all in coordinating efforts to support our people downrange,” Byard said.
Puerto Rico is still dealing with the aftermath of hurricanes Irma and Maria. Byard said the island’s vulnerable power grid remains a major concern.
“We still have a major recovery going on in both Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The governor has done a great job. Her and her team in Puerto Rico have been very proactive,” Byard explained.
The storms two years ago claimed nearly 3,000 lives. However, FEMA says they’ve changed their strategy, with warehouses packed full and 7,000 generators already on the ground.
They have prepositioned resources throughout those U.S. territories, such as food, water and tarps. They said they have even more of those life-saving commodities in place than back in 2017 when Hurricane Maria hit.
“We now focus on stabilization of community life lines — food, water, energy power, communications. Those things that every community needs to function daily and so our incorporation of the private sector will allow us to get the grocery stores back up and will allow us to focus on communications to make sure we know what’s going on,” he said.
As Dorian approaches the U.S. mainland, the Trump Administration is planning to take at least $155 million dollars from the FEMA disaster relief fund and move it to bolster immigration enforcement.
Byard said the balance left in its disaster relief fund should be enough to cover this storm.
“We shouldn’t have any issues there,” Byard said.
President Trump approved an emergency declaration on Tuesday, making federal funding available to Puerto Rico to assist in preparations for all 78 municipalities in the Commonwealth.
Officials are urging those in the path of the storm to download the FEMA app to receive real-time alerts from the National Weather Service, to find open emergency shelters, and other critical information.