The winds, rains, flooding and landslides of the 2017 hurricane season have been historic, but so have the generous and brave efforts of Department of the Interior employees. From the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico through Texas, Florida, the Southeast and other areas along the East Coast, hundreds of Interior employees are helping respond to the record-breaking devastation.
“To those responding to this crisis in real time -- thank you for all you're doing. You have my support, the support of the entire Interior team and the support of the President during these trying times,” Secretary Zinke said as Hurricane Maria savaged Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Hurricane Jose stirred up the ocean along the East Coast. It was a message he first shared with Interior’s first responders after Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. “Thank you for your heroic dedication to the mission at hand. I could not be prouder to be your Secretary.”
In the coming days, Secretary Zinke and other officials will visit the FEMA Joint Field Office in Austin, Texas and other locations to thank employees working to help communities recover. FEMA coordinates hurricane response and recovery for the entire federal family, while Interior’s Office of Emergency Management, through its 24/7 operations, coordinates the work of the DOI employees on FEMA assignments.
Here’s the different ways hundreds of Interior employees are helping out:
* More than two hundred DOI employees have supported, or are still supporting, FEMA assignments for each of the hurricanes -- with some employees having worked on more than one mission assignment or more than one hurricane.
* On top of the employees supporting FEMA, hundreds of additional employees from Interior bureaus are working on rescue and recovery efforts in their communities; restoring and repairing our parks, refuges and other DOI assets; and helping tribes and localities in need of services. For example, more than 300 National Park Service employees from 95 national parks have been involved in Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma response and recovery before Hurricane Maria hit.
* Almost 600 Interior employees from various bureaus have volunteered to help Interior and FEMA in other ways. As many as 50 of those volunteers will deploy as part of FEMA’s Surge Capacity Force. Other volunteers may be deployed to help the Small Business Administration and other members of the federal family who need support.
Interior support for Hurricane Maria (as of 9/21)
* Interior’s Office of Law Enforcement sent 50 bureau and office law enforcement officers on a FEMA mission assignment to Puerto Rico with an additional 40 officers on the way. For example, Bureau of Land Management officers provided medical assistance for two heart patients while they were weathering the storm at a nearby hotel.
* The U.S. Geological Survey’s field crews in Puerto Rico have deployed and are monitoring storm-tide sensors. More information can be found on the USGS Maria Flood Event Map.
* A National Park Service incident management team is providing immediate assistance and communications for employees and the community in San Juan.
* Twenty U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service personnel scheduled for recovery operations in the Caribbean are working in cooperation with the U.S. Forest Service.
Breaking New Ground in Hurricane Response
The efforts of Interior bureaus and employees during this hurricane season have included several “firsts.” For example, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and President Trump assisted the Seminole Tribe with the first Presidential Emergency Declaration for a tribal nation.
Interior also deployed 12 of its remote pilots and their Unmanned Aerial Systems in support of the response to Hurricane Harvey. The drones were used to conduct damage assessments and provide real-time information for the responders during a time when it was not safe to fly manned aircraft.
Updates on Continued Hurricane Response
The U.S. Geological Survey continues to support the recovery of areas affected by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Nearly 50 USGS employees in Florida, Georgia, Puerto Rico, South Carolina and Texas are collecting high-water marks -- the thin lines of residue that floodwaters leave on walls, buildings and trees, which serve as indicators of how high the waters reached -- and storm sensor data. More USGS data (including pre-and post-event image comparisons), a flood event viewer and an event support map, can be found on the USGS Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma pages.
Several hundred National Park Service employees are supporting humanitarian needs, conducting damage assessments and providing emergency stabilization of park facilities. More information on NPS’s response to the hurricanes is available on the NPS Hurricane web page.
From saving manatees at Irma's approach to helping communities clean up afterwards, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employees have been hard at work during hurricane season. More FWS information is available on the FWS Southeast News site , the FWS Hurricane Irma page and the FWS Hurricane Maria page.
Source: Department of Interior
