Federal Emergency Management Agency
WASHINGTON – Residents along the East Coast are urged to follow the direction of local officials and monitor news, check your local government website every 30 minutes in order to get the latest updates and emergency instructions. Life-threatening conditions include significant coastal and inland flooding, storm surge, damaging winds. Local areas have already begun to issue mandatory and voluntary evacuation orders. If told to evacuate, do so immediately.
“It takes more than FEMA to respond to storms of this magnitude,” said FEMA Administrator Brock Long. “The federal government has people and supplies in Guam, Hawaii, and along the East coast from South Carolina to Pennsylvania, but this will take all levels of government, the private sector, and individuals. Now is the time to prepare, and listen to warnings and orders from local officials.”
History shows that storm tracks can change quickly and unexpectedly. It is crucial that residents and visitors in the areas that will be affected by these storms listen to and obey the instructions of local, state and tribal officials.
For additional information on evacuations, individuals should:
-
North Carolina: follow @NCEmergency on Twitter, visit https://www.readync.gov/. Individuals in Dare County, can also visit https://www.darenc.com/departments/emergency-management.
-
South Carolina: follow @SCEMD and @SCDOTpress on Twitter, call the SCDOT Call Center at 855-GO-SCDOT (855-467-2368). You can also visit www.511sc.org.
-
Virginia: follow @VDEM on Twitter; visit http://www.vaemergency.gov/ and KnowYourZoneVA.org.
Expect that services such as power, phone, water and sewage will be disrupted for an extended time. Everyone should remember to:
- Refill your gas tank and, if evacuating, stock your vehicle with emergency supplies and a change of clothes.
- Get prescription refills if needed.
- Have cash on hand.
- Turn around. Don’t drown. Don’t drive around barricades, or through high water.
According to the National Weather Service, Hurricane Florence is currently projected to make landfall in the Carolinas on Thursday as a Category 4 hurricane, and may have catastrophic impacts to a wide-spread area throughout the East coast.
In the eastern Pacific, Tropical Storm Olivia is prompting tropical storm watches and warnings for the Hawaiian Islands of Oahu, Maui, Molokai, Lanai, Kahoolawe, Kuai, and Hawaii, and is expected to pass over the islands late Tuesday night into Wednesday.
Monday evening, the President granted emergency declarations for North Carolina, South Carolina and the Northern Mariana Islands to assist those governments with life-safety actions being taken for tropical systems.
To learn more on how to prepare before, during, and after a hurricane, visit: www.ready.gov/hurricanes.
# # #