How is FEMA helping in response to Hurricane Debby?
From damage assessment in Florida to storm preparation in the Carolinas, Deputy Administrator Erik Hooks explains what FEMA is doing to help as Debby continues rampaging through the Southeast.
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00:00Eric Hooks is FEMA Deputy Administrator. Eric, thank you so much for making time
00:04for us here on this busy day. Thank you, Jeff. Thank you for having me.
00:08It's our pleasure. And Eric, now that Debbie is slowly trudging, trudging
00:13through several southeastern states with emergency declarations in effect, what is
00:17FEMA's role at this stage in the game and how is the agency responding? Well,
00:22because of the uniqueness of this storm and spread up over a wide area across
00:28the southeast, we are doing a number of things. We have been partnered with all
00:33of the states prior to the storm arriving in Florida and we have set up
00:39our distribution center outside of Atlanta where we are fully stocked with
00:43commodities and goods that we can support communities throughout the
00:47entire region. We have about 700 staff throughout the various states that are
00:52placed and embedded with our local partners and well-postured to respond to
00:58any of their local needs. And as you have pointed out, President Biden has issued
01:03an emergency declaration for the states of Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina.
01:08And we continue to work collaboratively with North Carolina as they prepare as
01:14well. So we're in a number of phases. Some of those earlier landfall areas in
01:20Florida, they are already doing some preliminary damage assessments and are
01:24on the ground and so we're there to support whatever needs that they may
01:28have there. We are also supporting the other states as well for preparations in
01:36North Carolina as the storm ultimately moves that way and working
01:41collaboratively with Georgia and South Carolina as well. So we have
01:46pre-positioned assets. We have pre-positioned people to meet the needs
01:51as they exist and to take the lead from our state and local partners as they
01:57address the storms. So you mentioned a lot of different areas from North
02:02Florida, the point of landfall up into the Carolina coast and beyond. Where is
02:06the greatest need at this moment and also what types of federal assistance
02:11will be needed? Is it all financial? I know that you serve a different role
02:14from a kind of a larger role than something compared to something like the
02:17Red Cross obviously. Right now we are engaged in those life-saving, life
02:24sustaining activities in our response mode. The emergency declarations open the
02:30door for federal resources to support our state and territories and localities
02:34for life-saving, life-sustaining needs. Keeping in mind as you all well know on
02:39the Weather Channel and as you educate the population, the storms not over. Even
02:45in Florida that you can continue to have flooding extending for days and the same
02:50is true for Georgia and South Carolina and ultimately where we believe it will
02:55track into North Carolina as well. So we are postured well with swift water
03:01rescue equipment, urban search and rescue teams as well and incident management
03:07teams to support those areas in life-saving, life-sustaining activities
03:12in the response. We are, as I said earlier, we are well postured to provide
03:19commodities that may be needed to support and sustain communities that
03:23have been impacted and yet we are still in the pre-planning and preparation
03:31business when it comes primarily to parts of South Carolina and North
03:35Carolina to help echo messaging to keep people safe. Some of those things are
03:42echoing the message for individuals should they need to evacuate to find
03:48appropriate shelter, actions that they can take in their communities to stay
03:54safe such as staying out of still or running water, be it walking, swimming or
04:00trying to drive through water in their communities and just making sure that
04:06they are prepared to to address the storm no matter what.
04:13All right, that's FEMA Deputy Administrator Eric Hooks. Eric, thank you
04:17so much for making time for us today. Thank you, Jeff. All right, they're doing
04:22some good things there. A lot of water rescues have been needed and again they
04:25help to facilitate many of these things that local, state, regional efforts work
04:31together under one larger umbrella there to keep many people safe.