FEMA Blog

Posted by: Alexandra Kirin, Public Affairs

Updated: March 4 at 4:15 PM EST

Since the deadly tornadoes first struck, this week in the Midwest, FEMA, through our regional offices in Kansas City, Chicago, and Atlanta, is in close contact and coordination with the impacted states. This week, President Obama spoke with the governors of Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, and Ohio to express his concern for citizens impacted by the severe weather and tornadoes this week, including yesterday and overnight, and condolences to families who had lost loved ones. Today, Secretary Napolitano spoke with the governors of Alabama, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, and Tennessee following the storms that affected these states Friday evening, and overnight.

The administration, through FEMA, is closely monitoring the storms and their impacts and remains in close contact with emergency officials in impacted states across the country to ensure there are not any unmet needs. FEMA and its partners have teams on the ground in hard hit areas, and is prepared to deploy additional teams and resources, if needed by the states.

The following timeline provides an overview of these and other federal activities, to date, to support the impacted states, families and communities.

Saturday, March 3

• President Obama speaks with the governors of Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky to express his concern for citizens impacted by the severe weather and tornadoes this week, including yesterday and overnight, and offer condolences to families who had lost loved ones. The President acknowledges that the extent of damage may not be known for days, and reiterates to each governor that FEMA stood ready to provide assistance, if necessary, to the extensive response efforts already underway in each state, led by the governors' teams.
• Secretary Napolitano speaks with the governors of Alabama, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio and Tennessee in response to the storms affecting the states Friday evening, into Saturday morning.
• FEMA, through our regional offices in Kansas City, Mo., Chicago, Ill., and Atlanta, Ga., continues to closely monitor conditions in the areas affected by severe weather, and has been in touch with state and local officials via conference calls held daily. (Editor's Note: added March 4, 2012 at 4:15 PM EST)
• FEMA’s National Response Coordination Center in Washington, D.C. is activated, and its Regional Response Coordination Center in Chicago, Ill. is fully activated to support state requests for assistance. Regional Response Coordination Centers in Kansas City, and Atlanta, are partially activated and monitoring requests for assistance.
• FEMA remains in close contact with our federal partners at the National Weather Service forecast offices. Today, the National Weather Service is forecasting a slight risk of severe thunderstorms across the eastern Gulf Coast into the coastal Carolinas. Main threat will be heavy rains across much of the Southeast today.
• Incident Management Assistance Teams are proactively staged in Indiana and Kentucky to assist in coordination efforts as the states continue to respond and begin to recover from this devastating storm outbreak.
• FEMA maintains commodities, including millions of liters of water, millions of meals and hundreds of thousands of blankets, strategically located at distribution centers throughout the United States and its territories.A national Incident Support Base is established in coordination with the Department of Defense to stage commodities such as meals, water, cots and blankets in strategic locations close to the impacted areas, if needed and requested by the states. More than 98,000 meals and 146,000 liters of water are en route to the incident support base.
• A FEMA liaison to the Indiana Emergency Operations Center, participates in aerial assessments of the hard hit areas in Indiana.
• The Private Sector Representative from Wal-Mart is working in the National Response Coordination Center in Washington, D.C. to gather situational updates, to communicate and coordinate with private sector entities.
• The Department of Energy, as of 9:00 am, reports there are currently more than 139,000 customers without power in the impacted states.
• U.S. Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Distress Helpline is available for those impacted by the storms. Trained and resourced crisis counselors can be reached 24/7 from anywhere in the impacted region by calling 1-800-985-5990 or texting 'TalkWithUs' to 66746. More information is available online.
• More than 15 Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster are providing emergency assistance including sheltering, feeding, distribution of emergency supplies, debris cleanup, and mental and spiritual care to impacted states.

Friday, March 2

• FEMA, through our regional offices in Kansas City, Chicago, and Atlanta, continues to closely monitoring conditions in the areas affected by severe weather, and has been in touch with state and local officials.
• FEMA’s Regional Response Coordination Center in Chicagi is fully activated to support state requests for assistance.;Regional Response Coordination Centers in Kansas City, and Atlanta, are partially activated and monitoring requests for assistance
• FEMA remains in close contact with our federal partners at the National Weather Service forecast offices.
• Joint preliminary damage assessments with other state and local personnel are underway in 17 Missouri counties. These assessments identify the damages in impacted counties to help the governor determine if additional federal support will be requested.
• A FEMA Disability Integration specialist is deployed as part of the preliminary damage assessment team in Branson, Mo., and has been working to assess the needs of people with disabilities and those with access and functional needs.
• At the request of the states, FEMA deploys teams to Illinois and West Virginia to assist with joint preliminary damage assessments with other state and local personnel. These assessments are scheduled to begin Monday, March 5.
• Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels declares a state of emergency, making state response and recovery resources available to the impacted areas.
• FEMA Regional Administrator, Andrew Velasquez is in constant communication with Indiana emergency management officials.
• FEMA deploys a liaison officer to the Indiana Emergency Operations Center to provide support to the state, to assist in coordination efforts as the state continues to respond to the devastating storm outbreak.
• An Incident Management Assistance Team is deployed to the Indiana Emergency Operations Center.
• Kentucky Governor Beshear declared a state of emergency, making state response and recovery resources available to the impacted areas.

Thursday, March 1

• President Obama calls Missouri Governor Jay Nixon, Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, Illinois Governor Patrick Quinn, Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam, and Kansas Governor Sam Brownback to hear about the response efforts underway and determine if federal support is needed.
• FEMA, through our regional offices in Kansas City, Chicago, and Atlanta, closely monitor conditions in Midwest states affected by severe weather, including tornadoes, and has been in touch with state and local officials.
• FEMA remains in close contact with our federal partners at the National Weather Service forecast offices.
• Illinois Governor Pat Quinn declares a state of emergency for the southern third of the state of Illinois, making state response and recovery resources available to the impacted areas.
• The State of Illinois requests joint preliminary damage assessments for eight counties. FEMA is deploying teams to begin assessments on March 5, as requested. These assessments identify the damages in impacted counties to help the governor determine if additional federal support will be requested.
• The State of Missouri and the Small Business Administration have comprised a team of private sector specialists to conduct assessments of impacts on the business community of Branson, Missouri. A FEMA private sector representative is on the team.
• Missouri Governor Nixon orders the National Guard deployed to support local law enforcement agencies with emergency coordination and recovery.
• In Kentucky, local states of emergency are in effect for Muhlenberg, Larue and Morgan Counties.

Wednesday, February 29

• FEMA is in close contact with our federal partners at the National Weather Service forecast offices.
• FEMA Regional Administrator Beth Freeman has reached out to the governors of Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska.  FEMA’s regional office in Kansas City, has been in constant contact with officials at the Kansas Department of Emergency Management, Missouri State Emergency Management Agency, and the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency since the severe weather hit.
• FEMA Regional Administrator Andrew Velasquez III reached out to the Governor of Illinois and is in constant communication with the Illinois Emergency Management Agency Director Jon Monken. FEMA Region V is also in communication with the Indiana Department of Homeland Security and continues to monitor the situation.
• Missouri Governor Jay Nixon declares a state of emergency in Missouri in response to severe storms. The governor’s emergency declaration makes available state government resources, such as personnel, equipment and facilities, to support and assist disaster response operations.
• Prior to severe weather, FEMA had staff in Springfield, Ill., participating in a planning workshop. Two FEMA staff members remain at the state emergency operations center to monitor the situation alongside the state.
• The Missouri Business Emergency Operations Center, located at the Missouri State EOC, has been virtually activated to facilitate two-way communications between the private sector, SEMA, and FEMA.
• State emergency management in Kansas, Missouri, Illinois and Indiana report damage from tornadoes in some areas.
• At the request of the State of Missouri, FEMA deploys teams to Missouri to conduct joint preliminary damage assessments with other state and local personnel which are scheduled to begin Friday, March 2. These assessments identify the damages in impacted counties to help the governor determine if additional federal support will be requested.
• Missouri Governor Nixon has ordered the National Guard deployed to support local law enforcement agencies with emergency coordination and recovery.

Tuesday, February 28

• FEMA, through our regional offices in Kansas City, and Chicago, is closely monitoring conditions in Midwest states affected by severe weather, including tornadoes, and has been in touch with state and local officials.
• FEMA stays in close contact with our federal partners at the National Weather Service forecast offices.
• The Governor of Kansas declares a State of Emergency, which makes available state government resources, such as personnel, equipment and facilities, to support and assist disaster response operations.