President Declares Major Disaster For Vermont

President Declares Major Disaster For Vermont 

Release Date: June 22, 2012
Release Number: HQ-12-046

» More Information on Vermont Severe Storm, Tornado, And Flooding

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) today announced that federal disaster assistance has been made available to Vermont to supplement state and local recovery efforts in the area struck by severe storm, tornado and flooding on May 29, 2012.

Federal funding is available to state and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged by the severe storm, tornado and flooding in Addison, Lamoille and Orleans counties.

Federal funding is also available on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation measures statewide.

James N. Russo has been named as the Federal Coordinating Officer for federal recovery operations in the affected area. Russo said additional designations may be made at a later date if requested by the state and warranted by the results of further damage assessments.

Follow FEMA online at blog.fema.gov, www.twitter.com/fema, www.facebook.com/fema, and www.youtube.com/fema. Also, follow Administrator Craig Fugate’s activities at www.twitter.com/craigatfema.

The social media links provided are for reference only. FEMA does not endorse any non-government websites, companies or applications.

FEMA’s mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.

Last Modified: Friday, 22-Jun-2012 18:17:03

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President Declares Major Disaster For Vermont

FEMA Authorizes Funds to Help Fight Utah’s Dump Fire

FEMA Authorizes Funds to Help Fight Utah’s Dump Fire 

Release Date: June 22, 2012
Release Number: R8-12-013

» 2012 Region VIII News Releases

DENVER, Colo. — The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has authorized the use of federal funds to help with firefighting costs for the Dump Fire in Utah County.

FEMA Deputy Regional Administrator Doug Gore approved the state’s request for a federal Fire Management Assistance Grant (FMAG) upon receiving the state’s request at 11:10 a.m. MDT Friday morning. At the time of the request, the fire was threatening 250 homes in and around Saratoga Springs, UT, population 2,000. Voluntary and mandatory evacuations were taking place in the area and affecting approximately 250 people. The fire was also threatening utilities, recreation areas and a watershed. At the time of the request, the fire had burned in excess of 800 acres on state and private lands.

The authorization makes FEMA funding available to pay 75 percent of the state’s eligible firefighting costs for managing, mitigating and controlling the fire. These grants do not provide assistance to individual home or business owners and do not cover other infrastructure damage caused by the fire.

Fire Management Assistance Grants are provided through the President’s Disaster Relief Fund and made available by FEMA to assist in fighting fires that threaten to cause a major disaster. Eligible items can include expenses for field camps; equipment use, repair and replacement; mobilization and demobilization activities; and tools, materials and supplies.

FEMA’s mission is to support our citizens and first responders and to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.

Last Modified: Friday, 22-Jun-2012 16:04:37

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FEMA Authorizes Funds to Help Fight Utah’s Dump Fire

FEMA Approves Fire Management Assistance Grant for Fire in Sandoval County, New Mexico

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FEMA Approves Fire Management Assistance Grant for Fire in Sandoval County, New Mexico

Million-Dollar Federal Grant Awarded To Lykens Borough

Million-Dollar Federal Grant Awarded To Lykens Borough 

Release Date: June 20, 2012
Release Number: 4025-144

» More Information on Pennsylvania Tropical Storm Lee
» More Information on Pennsylvania Hurricane Irene

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A federal grant of more than $1.02 million to stabilize Battling Creek was recently announced by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

During Tropical Storm Lee, Lykens Borough in Dauphin County suffered severe damage to its gabion basket channel containment walls on both sides of Rattling Creek.  Gabion basket walls are designed to provide bank stabilization and erosion control for the protection of improved property.  The damaged gabion walls will be replaced with a more durable pre-engineered segmented wall utilizing blocks to help protect the embankments and improved property.

The grant represents a 75 percent federal share of the project cost, which totals $1,368,012.  The remaining 25 percent will be paid by the Commonwealth. 

Under FEMA’s Public Assistance (PA) Program, funding is provided to the Commonwealth, eligible local governments, and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis.

FEMA manages the program, approves grants, and provides technical assistance to the Commonwealth and applicants. The Commonwealth educates potential applicants, works with FEMA to manage the program, and is responsible for implementing and monitoring the grants awarded under the program. Local officials are responsible for identifying damage, providing information necessary for FEMA to approve grants, and managing each project funded under the program.

More information on FEMA’s PA program is available at www.fema.gov/government/grant/pa/index.shtm.

To date, more than $90 million has been obligated to the Commonwealth by FEMA under the federal PA program.  There are an estimated 1,700 applicants, with assistance expected to top $200 million.

FEMA’s mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.                                               

Last Modified: Wednesday, 20-Jun-2012 10:29:17

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Million-Dollar Federal Grant Awarded To Lykens Borough

FEMA Approves Fire Management Assistance Grant for Fire in San Juan County, New Mexico

FEMA Approves Fire Management Assistance Grant for Fire in San Juan County, New Mexico 

Release Date: June 19, 2012
Release Number: R6-12-111

DENTON, Texas – To help fight the Blanco Fire in San Juan County, New Mexico, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) approved a request from the state of New Mexico for a Fire Management Assistance Grant (FMAG).

“We support the efforts to combat this fire threat,” said FEMA Region 6 Acting Administrator Tony Robinson. “We know that this declaration will help state and local officials protect lives and property.”

Eligible state firefighting costs covered by the aid must first meet a minimum threshold for costs before assistance is provided. Eligible costs covered by the aid can include expenses for field camps; equipment use, repair and replacement; tools, materials and supplies; and mobilization and demobilization activities.

An authorization makes FEMA funding available to pay 75 percent of state and local government eligible firefighting costs under an approved grant for managing, mitigating and controlling designated fires. Federal fire management assistance is provided through the President’s Disaster Relief Fund and is made available by FEMA to reimburse local fire fighting efforts for fires that threaten to cause a major disaster.

FEMA’s mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.

Last Modified: Tuesday, 19-Jun-2012 13:59:03

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FEMA Approves Fire Management Assistance Grant for Fire in San Juan County, New Mexico

Federal Aid Programs For State Of New Hampshire Disaster Recovery

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Federal Aid Programs For State Of New Hampshire Disaster Recovery

Heading To The All-Star Game, The College World Series, A Concert? Be Tornado Ready

Heading To The All-Star Game, The College World Series, A Concert? Be Tornado Ready 

Release Date: June 15, 2012
Release Number: R7-12-008

» 2012 Region VII News Releases

Kansas City, Mo. — As you and your family make plans to go to baseball’s All-Star Game 2012 in Kansas City, the College World Series in Omaha, attend a concert, an outdoor event, or go on a road trip this summer, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) wants you to know what you should do if a tornado threatens.

“It’s automatic for parents—you step into a crowded shopping mall, or athletic stadium and you check to make sure your children are safely by your side. Your very next thought should be ‘what if?’ What if there’s a need to evacuate this building, or take shelter quickly inside it?” said Regional Administrator Beth Freeman, of FEMA Region VII. “Preparing before severe weather threatens is always the wisest thing to do, but it can be tricky when you’re out in public or in unfamiliar areas. We want to see people consider their options and know what to do during any emergency like it’s second nature.”

BE PREPARED TO TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION

If you’re inside a building (e.g. residence, athletic stadium, small building, school, nursing home, hospital, factory, shopping center, high-rise building) the goal is to find the best available refuge area. In the event of a tornado warning, to go the safest refuge area such as a safe room, basement, storm cellar, or the lowest building level. If there is no basement, go to the center of an interior room on the lowest level (closet, interior hallway) away from corners, windows, doors, and outside walls. Put as many walls as possible between you and the outside. Get under a sturdy table and use your arms to protect your head and neck. In a high-rise building, go to a small interior room or hallway on the lowest floor possible. Put on sturdy shoes. Do not open windows.

If you plan to attend an event in an outdoor stadium or arena, consider how you would evacuate or take shelter in the event of a tornado. It’s best to plan ahead and when possible learn what emergency plans are in place.

If you’re driving or outdoors with no shelter immediately drive to the closest sturdy shelter IF, and only if, it’s five or less minutes away. If your vehicle is hit by flying debris while you are driving, pull over and park. Stay in the car with the seat belt on. Put your head down below the windows; cover your head with your hands and a blanket, coat or other cushion if possible.

If you can safely get noticeably lower than the level of the roadway, like into a ditch, leave your car and lie in that area, covering your head with your hands. Do not get under an overpass or bridge because it is a very dangerous place to be during a tornado. You are safer in a low, flat location. Watch out for flying debris. Flying debris from tornadoes causes most fatalities and injuries. Also, never try to outrun a tornado in urban or congested areas in a car or truck.

Understand alert and warning systems and stay informed

Learn about weather alerts so you can make good decisions regardless of where you are when severe weather threatens. A tornado Watch means existing weather conditions could create a tornado. However, when a tornado Warning is issued, a tornado has been seen on the ground or Doppler radar indicates there is a strong possibility one may soon form in the area under the Warning. When a tornado warning is issued, seek safe shelter immediately.

If at home or in your car, listen to a NOAA Weather Radio or to commercial radio or television newscasts for the latest information. During severe weather, keep the weather radio with you at all times, including while sheltering. Sign up on www.weather.gov to receive email or text message alerts for severe weather. NOAA has more information about choosing a weather radio at www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr/nwrrcvr.htm.

Understanding Outdoor Sirens

Outdoor sirens may warn of an immediate tornado threat, but they’re only meant to alert people outdoors. The sirens in your community may work differently than those in a neighboring town, so it’s important to become familiar with the local siren system. Speak with local emergency management officials to determine:

  • When do they turn the siren on?
  • If the siren has different tones, what are they and what do they mean?
  • When the siren stops, does it mean the threat is over?
  • What does the emergency manager recommend doing when the siren sounds, or for each broadcasted tone?
  • When does the siren system get tested?

Once you understand your local siren system, teach everyone in the family and then practice getting to the best available refuge area. That way the whole family knows what to do, even if you’re not together during an emergency. During any emergency, always listen to the instructions given by local emergency management officials.

Have a plan and supplies

According to the National Weather Service, no geographic location, including downtown urban areas, around lakes, rivers or mountains, are safe from tornados. Those outdoors or living in mobile homes are most vulnerable, but everyone should have a plan and prepare.

Begin preparing by building an emergency supply kit (www.ready.gov/build-a-kit), making a family emergency plan (www.ready.gov/make-a-plan) and purchasing a NOAA weather radio. Keep an emergency supply kit at home, work, and in your car, and be sure everyone in the family understands the emergency plan.

Once you have an emergency supply kit, check it monthly to be sure the water is fresh, medications and batteries are still usable and it is tailored to meet your family’s needs that month.

Factors that should be considered for both the supply kit and the family emergency plan could include the needs of family members of different ages, dietary needs, and disabilities or access and functional needs, including assistive technology equipment. Most or all people have both specific personal needs as well as resources that can assist others. Working with your family and neighbors, you can make a supply kit and plan to fit existing needs.

It’s also important to test your family emergency plan. Your family may not be together when disaster strikes and you’ll want to find them as soon as the crisis is over.

Get step-by-step instructions on how to prepare your family and/or business online at www.ready.gov. You may also download the FEMA application (www.fema.gov/help/social_media.shtm) for disaster safety tips, interactive lists for storing your emergency kit and emergency meeting location information for your emergency plan.

Follow www.twitter.com/femaregion7 (even if you don’t have a Twitter account) for more tornado and severe weather safety tips all week.

Visit FEMA Region VII online at www.fema.gov/region7. Follow FEMA online at www.twitter.com/femaregion7, www.twitter.com/fema, www.facebook.com/fema, and www.youtube.com/fema. Also, follow Administrator Craig Fugate’s activities at www.twitter.com/craigatfema. The social media links provided are for reference only. FEMA does not endorse any non-government websites, companies or applications.

FEMA’s mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.

Last Modified: Friday, 15-Jun-2012 16:02:51

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Heading To The All-Star Game, The College World Series, A Concert? Be Tornado Ready

FEMA Approves Fire Management Assistance Grant for Fire in Lincoln County, New Mexico

FEMA Approves Fire Management Assistance Grant for Fire in Lincoln County, New Mexico 

Release Date: June 13, 2012
Release Number: R6-12-108

DENTON, Texas – In order to help fight the Little Bear Fire in Lincoln County, New Mexico, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) approved a request from the state of New Mexico for a Fire Management Assistance Grant (FMAG).

“We support our local and state officials in their efforts to combat this fire threat and keep people and property safe from harm,” said FEMA Region 6 Acting Regional Administrator Tony Robinson.

Eligible state firefighting costs covered by the aid must first meet a minimum threshold for costs before assistance is provided. Eligible costs covered by the aid can include expenses for field camps; equipment use, repair and replacement; tools, materials and supplies; and mobilization and demobilization activities.

An authorization makes FEMA funding available to pay 75 percent of state and local government eligible firefighting costs under an approved grant for managing, mitigating and controlling designated fires. Federal fire management assistance is provided through the President’s Disaster Relief Fund and made available by FEMA to reimburse local fire fighting efforts for fires that threaten to cause a major disaster.

FEMA’s mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.

Last Modified: Thursday, 14-Jun-2012 11:00:44

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FEMA Approves Fire Management Assistance Grant for Fire in Lincoln County, New Mexico

FEMA Awards $456,863 Grant To City Of Oronoco

FEMA Awards $456,863 Grant To City Of Oronoco 

Hazard mitigation funds will be used to remove homes from flood-prone areas

Release Date: June 13, 2012
Release Number: R5-12-008

CHICAGO – The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has released $456,863 in Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) funds to the city of Oronco, Minn., for the acquisition of five flood-prone homes that have been substantially damaged from flooding.

“The Hazard Mitigation Grant Program enables communities to implement critical mitigation measures to reduce the risk of loss of life and property,” said FEMA Region V Administrator Andrew Velasquez III. “The acquisition of these five structures in Oronoco, and their removal from the floodplain, will establish a permanent open space that will reduce damages and lessen the impact of flooding on the local community.”

HMGP provides grants to state and local governments to implement long-term hazard mitigation measures. Through HMGP, FEMA will pay 75 percent of the $609,150 eligible project cost. The remaining 25 percent of the funds, $152,287, will be provided by the city of Oronoco.

FEMA’s mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.

Last Modified: Thursday, 14-Jun-2012 10:56:30

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FEMA Awards $456,863 Grant To City Of Oronoco

Severe Weather Serves as Warning to Prepare

Severe Weather Serves as Warning to Prepare 

Release Date: June 8, 2012
Release Number: R8-12-010

» 2012 Region VIII News Releases

DENVER, Co. — A spate of severe weather-related events across the northern Rockies and Great Plains states serves as a reminder to citizens to be prepared for natural disasters.

“We have had fires, tornadoes, hail and flooding all in the past 24 hours,” said Regional Administrator Robin Finegan of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in Denver. “It is also the 40th anniversary of the Rapid City, South Dakota flood, the 10th anniversary of the Colorado Hayman fire, and coming up on the first anniversary of the Souris River flood in North Dakota. Nature is giving us an important message about preparing for what may come.”

Finegan pointed to recent events as evidence of the need for preparation:

  • Tornadoes touched down Thursday in Wyoming and Colorado. A tornado in southeastern Wyoming damaged 11 homes, injured one person and overturned four railroad cars, according to state emergency officials. The same system unleashed large hail in Wheatland and Laramie, Wyoming, plus up to three possible tornadoes that damaged 12 homes and injured one in Colorado, according to officials there. Hail was reported in Colorado in Weld and El Paso counties.
  • Storms in Colorado on Wednesday produced five tornadoes and hail up to eight inches deep.
  • Heavy rains in North Dakota Thursday resulted in flash flooding in McLean and Montrail counties, according to state emergency officials. More than six inches of rain fell near Parshall.
  • Severe weather is expected again Friday in eastern Montana and western North Dakota.
  • Firefighters continue fighting a 6,000-acre wildfire in the Medicine Bow National Forest in Wyoming, and a 227-acre wildfire in northern Colorado, plus smaller fires in Colorado, Montana and Utah.
  • Red Flag fire warnings are in effect for parts of Utah, Wyoming and Colorado.
  • Today is the 40th anniversary of the flood in Rapid City, South Dakota, that killed 238 people, destroyed more than 1,300 homes, and caused an estimated $165 million in damage throughout the Black Hills.
  • Today is also the 10th anniversary of the start of the Hayman fire, the largest wildfire in Colorado history. The fire burned for six weeks, destroyed 215 square miles and 132 homes, and cost $238 million to fight. The state’s second-largest fire in history, the Missionary Ridge fire near Durango, started the day after the Hayman fire started and burned about half as much land.
  • June 22 will mark one year after the Souris River flood that damaged large portions of Minot, Burlington, and other parts of Ward County in North Dakota.

“Those headlines all tell us one thing – be prepared,” says Finegan. “Make a disaster plan that addresses the risks you and your family are most likely to face, put together a disaster kit, and stay informed as situations develop.”

A wide assortment of information on preparing yourself and your family for natural disasters is available online at www.ready.gov and www.redcross.org.

Key things to consider when making an emergency plan:

  • Families should put together a disaster plan. Everyone should know their evacuation routes and identify a site away from the disaster area where the family can meet.
  • It’s important to prepare an emergency supply kit that includes a battery-powered radio, nonperishable food, bottled water, a flashlight with extra batteries and essential prescription medicine. Also, consider putting together a kit to keep in the car.
  • Everyone should heed all local warnings from local and state officials. Don’t put yourself or first responders at risk. If you are told to evacuate, do so
  • Assess how your company functions, both internally and externally, to determine which staff, materials, procedures and equipment are critical to keep the business operating. Plan what you will do if your building, plant or store is not accessible.
  • Buy flood insurance to protect yourself financially. Contact your insurance agent for more information on a policy that is right for your level of risk, and visit www.floodsmart.gov for more information about flood insurance.

FEMA’s mission is to support our citizens and first responders and to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.

Last Modified: Monday, 11-Jun-2012 12:32:17

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Severe Weather Serves as Warning to Prepare

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