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Fighting Floyd’s Floods
September 27,
1999
Communities
in North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania,
South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida are fighting the flooding and
other fallout from Hurricane Floyd, one of the fiercest storms in
U.S. history.
They are not
fighting alone.
The Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is on hand, working with other
agencies and organizations to help citizens and communities cope
with the devastation left behind.
And devastation
it is--lives lost; homes, farms, and businesses washed away; millions
of animals dead or stranded, and many human survivors left without
phones, electricity, or safe water. Even the dead do not rest in
peace, as coffins float away from low-lying cemeteries.
When disaster
hits, FEMA coordinates relief and recovery operations with 26 other
federal agencies and the American Red Cross. FEMA is responsible
for the Federal Response
Plan to mobilize resources and conduct activities to assist
states in coping with the consequences of significant disasters.
In the wake
of Hurricane Floyd, FEMA is beefing up its toll-free disaster registration
line The toll-free number to call to register for disaster assistance
is 1-800-462-9029, or TTY1-800-462-7585 for the speech-or hearing-impaired.
Online Help
FEMA and its
partners also have websites that people and organizations may turn
to in the weeks ahead to help them dig out and restore their communities
and their lives. And when Floyd and its fallout are history, you
may go to these sites to prepare for future disasters and track
storms when they hit. See below.
File Insurance
Claims As Soon As Possible
FEMA officials
remind residents who have flood damage and a flood insurance policy
to contact the insurance company or agent who wrote the policy as
soon as possible to file a claim.
"Nationwide,
only one in four homeowners who live in a floodplain have flood
insurance," said Federal Insurance Administrator Jo Ann Howard,
who manages the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). The NFIP
makes flood insurance available in communities that adopt and enforce
ordinances to reduce flood damage.
Currently,
there are more that 4.1 million flood insurance policies in force
in over 19,000 participating communities nationwide, representing
nearly $496 billion worth of coverage.
"I commend
property owners who prepared for a disaster like Hurricane Floyd
by purchasing flood insurance," Howard added. "And I strongly
urge those who don’t have a flood insurance policy to buy one before
the next flood. You can recover so much faster and more completely
when you have flood insurance. "
High Impact
Agencies
FEMA and the
National Weather Service are designated as High-Impact Agencies
(HIAs) by the National
Partnership for Reinventing Government. (HIAs). HIAs are agencies
that serve the greatest number of Americans.
For More
Information or To Add Links
The list below
was compiled by the National
Partnership for Reinventing Government. For more information,
or to suggest other government links, contact Pat Wood at pat.wood@npr.gov.
Disaster-Related
Web Resources
Disaster Relief, Recovery,
and Preparedness
Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
FEMA
Homepage – As each disaster approaches or hits, this site
has news, warnings, briefings, preparedness, evacuation tips (including
animals), emergency response updates, insurance information, and
links to other sites.
FEMA
Response and Recovery
FEMA’s
National Flood Insurance Program
FEMA’s
Disaster Supplies Kit
FEMA’s
Project Impact
FEMA
for Kids
U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
(USACE) is working closely with the FEMA for Hurricane Floyd response
and recovery missions.
USACE Expands
Hurricane Floyd Disaster Response
Flood
Control
Disaster
Response
American
Red Cross
Red
Cross Disaster Services Guide – This guide is a resource
for anyone providing disaster safety information to the public.
This guide represents the hard work and collaboration of many professionals
affiliated with the organizations that founded the National Disaster
Education Coalition:
U.S.
Geological Survey
Online Storm Alerts
and Tracking
NOAA
National Weather Service
National
Weather Service homepage – The National Weather Service provides
warnings and forecast of hazardous weather, including thunderstorms,
flooding, hurricanes, tornadoes, winter weather, tsunamis, and climate
events. The National Weather Service is the official voice for issuing
warnings during life threatening weather situations in the United
States.
National
Weather Service Active Warnings
National
Hurricane Center Tropical Prediction Center -- This server
maintains a current database of meteorological and hydrological
data, historical data, and written information generated by the
National Weather Service or received from other official sources.
In addition, this server accesses in real-time a selection of current
official weather observations, forecasts, and warnings from U.S.
government sources for use by the national and international community.
Tropical
Predictions
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
USGS’s
Center for Integration of Natural Disaster Information (CINDI)
-- This
website serves as a gateway to a variety of information about earthquakes,
floods, hurricanes, geomagnetic storms, epidemics, volcanic eruptions,
and other natural hazards and disasters. Scientific information
produced by the U.S. Geological Survey is emphasized, but the site
links to information from other public and private sources.
CINDI
on Hurricane Preparedness
9/27/99 Contact
pat.wood@npr.gov
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