aLanguageBank TRANSCRIPT for FEMA TITLE: July 23, 2008 Dolly Briefing TOPIC (if needed): N/A DATE: July 23, 2008 LENGTH: 20 minutes PARTICIPANTS: Unidentified Female 1 Unidentified Male 1 ABBREVIATIONS: [U/I] = Unintelligible [PH] = Phonetic Spelling Speaker Transcription FEMA Acting Press Secretary Deborah Wing: Good afternoon. Welcome to the FEMA briefing on the Federal Response to Hurricane Dolly. Thank you so much for joining us this afternoon. We are happy to have our Federal partners here with us. We will first start off with Admiral Harvey Johnson who is the Deputy Administrator for FEMA. Second we ill go to Vice Admiral Vivian Crea, that’s C-R-E-A who is the Vice Commandant with the United States Coast Guard. Then we will hear from Jay Ahern who is the Deputy Commissioner for U.S. Customs and Boarder Protection. Finally – excuse me, then we’ll go to Armand Mascelli with the American Red Cross and then we’ll hear from Bill Irwin from the United States Army Corp. of Engineers. After we hear the briefings we will then take questions. Admiral Johnson. Admiral Harvey Johnson: Thank you all for coming. If you’re watching the TV as we are, with the weather you’ll see that Hurricane Dolly now is a Category II storm. The winds are going just over 100 miles an hour, which is a little bit more strength than we had expected. We just concluded a video teleconference with a Hurricane Weather Service with a number of Federal agencies and I think we’re certainly well prepared for this Hurricane supporting the State of Texas, but it is a little bit stronger than we perhaps thought initially. We’ve had a hurricane season now since the beginning of June and I think what you’ll be able to see across Texas, from the County level all the way up to State and Federal level, is all the preparations that we’ve been taking for the last several months are now going to pay dividends and hopefully for all the citizens that have been impacted by this hurricane. At the County level, judges in the four primary counties are well prepared to make decisions that they need to make today in terms of evacuation and providing the services to evacuees in the State of Texas. We can provide a slide to you at the end of the brief, but the State of Texas is a very well prepared state. And they have a large array of resources. They have on hand rescue squads, rescue teams, more than 1,200 National Guardsmen. They have a host of resources that are poised right now in the locations close to the impact area and are ready to come right in behind the storm and provide search and rescue services as well as evacuation services, plenty of shelters. They have about 23 shelters open now with 5,000 people who are there, which is a good story. People have left their homes and have gone to a safe place of refuge, and the Federal level, as many of our partners will talk about, we’ve got a large array of capabilities from FEMA, from the Department of Health and Human Services, from the National Guard, the Coast Guard, CBP, Border Patrol, the Corps of Engineers, the Red Cross. Just arrays of agencies are working very well together following our hurricane plan to support the people in Texas. One of our primary messages, of course, has long been personal preparedness and we’re seeing the benefit of a personal preparedness and community preparedness message. Secondly is certainly safety and security remains our priority in the post landfall. And, as the Coast Guard will talk about, they are certainly prepared now for search and rescue, which will be very, very important after that storm passes. Health and Human Services has a fantastic array of knowledge of all the health, the hospitals and nursing homes in the area. We know which ones have shelter-in-place capability and at this point anyone who needed to be evacuated were safely evacuated without incident over the last 24 hours. And the four hospitals in the impact area are well prepared with more than 72 hours worth of supplies and staff to withstand both the immediate impact of the hurricane and the next couple of days of recovery. Appropriately, from a FEMA perspective, we have incident management assistance teams, our Federal coordinatingofficers and a range of people both in Austin at the State Emergency Operations State, four deployed to McAllen, in San Antonio with their Area Regional Command Center and we’re there to support the State. And we’ve certainly taken on a hose of commodities and capabilities from water and MREs and tarps and blankets and generators to meet any gap that the State had. And at this point the State of Texas has no gaps and they have no specific request for Federal support. So I think you’ll hear from the briefs today that there’s a well organized team that are ready to stand up and support the State of Texas and we’ll see that play out over the next 24-48 hours in response mode and we’ll be there in recovery for many days to follow. Vice Admiral Vivian Crea: Thank you, Harvey. I am Vice Admiral Vivian Crea from the Coast Guard. We’re ready. We’ve got the hurricane condition set at all of our units. We’ve got the broadcast out for the shrimp vessels and the fishing vessels. All vessels are accounted for in that area. The intercoastal waterway will be closed as landfall probably right now until whatever time it takes to restore the ability to provide shipping down the intercoastal waterway. The pilots associations closed the bar into the harbor of Brownsville and we’ve got all sort of aviation and surface rescue facilities that are on standby ready to come back in right behind the storm along with the assetsand navigation facilities that can restore the markers for the intercoastal waterway. We’ve got folks deployed at the State EOC in Austin and with FEMA in Denton and basically we’re standing by, we’re ready for the storm and ready to come in right after and do our jobs. Deputy Commissioner Jay Ahern: Thank you very much. And my name is Jay Ahern, I’m the Deputy Commissioner of the United States Customs and Border Protection. We are also ready and one of the unique aspects from our perspective certainly is, in this particular hurricane, it’s hitting right on the U.S. border with Mexico. So, as such, our border’s security mission is paramount as we go forward through the next 24 hours to maintain safety of the individuals in the area as well as maintaining a level of security that’s appropriate given the risk that’s present. We certainly are maintaining border security operations at and between our points of entry along the southwest, we are seeing diminished activities, obviously a lot of individuals are sheltering and preparing themselves. In the local environments a lot of the traditional cross border traffic and trade has diminished greatly as we’ve seen this hurricane started to go ahead and develop over the last 24 hours. We’ve been actively engaged in this process, Ron Vitiello who is our local Sector Chief for the Border Patrol is the lead Federal Coordinator down there for us. We’re actively maintaining liaison officers at all the different levels, at the local level, the state level and all the FEMA command and coordination centers in order to make sure that we effectively commit our resource to those agencies and the individuals that are in need. We also have approximately 3,500 employees in the areas. Certainly who live in residences in these communities and also are individuals who continue to make sure that they continue to keep these communities safe during this time. We have a lot of our special teams that have been deployed into the area but also deployed to other Texas staging areas to be on hand if we need to move additional assets and they’re given security risk that could arise. We don’t foresee that at this particular point in time. About our policy, I just want to clarify, certainly we’ll continue to assess the situation on the ground and clearly stated, I want to make sure that it’s understood that we will not impact any kind of a safe, or we’ll certainly advocate and make sure that there’s a safe and speedy and orderly flow of people if they need to be evacuated from the area, but certainly there’s not been one that’s been ordered at this particular point in time. And safety and security is paramount to this department, then certainly for our agency, we communicated this down to our officers and agents in charge all throughout this affected area. I think it’s also important to recognize that certainly our laws are not suspended during this time and we need to make sure, as far as we continue to provide the security of the country, but, again, all the while making sure the safe and speedy evacuation of individuals or people in need, that’s our first responsibility. We do know history has told us in the past that sometimes-criminal organizations do try to capitalize on situations like this. Often times they will go ahead and operate in chaotic situations and we’ll keep our eye very much focused on that as we go forward. But we want to make sure as far as, again, we maintain the safety of our personnel and also the individuals in this area. Circumstances warrant as we go forward, if we need to continue to adjust our measures, we have very detailed plans in place and we’re willing to go ahead and we’re certainly able and capable of executing those as we see this hurricane continue to advance until it passes. I’d be happy to take some of the questions the opportunity presents itself. Thank you. ARC Vice President Armand Mascelli: Thank you. My name is Armand Mascelli and I’m the Vice President of the Red Cross Disaster Operations. The Red Cross has been getting ready since Sunday in terms of the anticipated impact of the storm. In addition to our chapters in Texas, we’ve been sending in additional supplies and equipment primarily through Corpus Christi and San Antonio in anticipation of the storm’s landfall. We have four Red Cross chapters that cover the eight to twelve threatened counties within the area. They’re working with their local emergency management folks and we sit also in the Emergency Operations Center in Austin in terms of coordinating activities. At this point our emphasis is going to be on supporting the sheltering of people. Also feeding, emergency feeding that will be needed, either because of flooding or things like disrupted utilities. We have two warehouses in the State of Texas that we’re drawing pretty amply. We’re working with our partner agencies in addition to folks like FEMA and state emergency management, but also with the Southern Baptist Convention and the Texas Baptist Men, they have large kitchens available. They’re ready to deploy in terms of providing seating and again the affected counties as the disaster happens. Also coordinating with other partners in the non-government community, people like Legal Services Corporation, the National Council de La Raza, Catholic charities and the National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators. So we’re set. We’re ready to go at this point, as soon as thing begin to clear a bit and we’ll be able to get those people and supplies and equipment into the affected area. Thank you. Bill Irwin: Good afternoon, I’m Bill Irwin with the Army Corps of Engineers. The Army Corps of Engineers is FEMA’s lead for Public Works and Engineering support. Typical assistance that we provide to FEMA includes things such as debris management, providing bottled water, temporary emergency power for critical facilities, temporary roofing for the homes that are damaged by winds. Wealso provide assistance with flood fighting efforts. For Hurricane Dolly, the Corp. of Engineers has been deployed at the direction of FEMA to provide electrical generator experts, so we’ve deployed our 249th Engineering Battalion experts that can rapidly assess generator requirements and install generators to critical facilities such as hospitals. Texas has robust capabilities, as you’ve heard from Admiral Johnson, but FEMA as asked the Corps to be ready to provide assistance if needed for such things as bottled water, debris management and roofing. The Corpsalso works closely with the Coast Guard to restore the ports and channels after an event such as this. Thank you very much. Deborah Wing: Thank you and before I take questions I wanted to let you know we do have a representative from the Department of Energy if you have any questions as well. So we’ll take your questions at this time. Yes, Ma’am. REPORTER: With regard to having been so close to the border, will recovery efforts stop at the border in interest of security only? Or will efforts be made to help south of the border as well? Jay Ahern: About what we do from a FEMA perspective, and just before Admiral speaks, we’ve been engaged a lot with the Government of Mexico and from our perspective on a couple of different aspects. First what is going to be the counterpart of our organization with Mexican Customs to find out what they’re going to be doing for inbound traffic to Mexico as well as northbound traffic. They suspended a lot of their operations to make sure that they have an opportunity to secure what’s necessary within their operational environment. We remain open in those areas. We’ve also talked with the U.S. Consulate to see if there’s any additional U.S. citizens or residents who are dual nationals that would need to come to the United States, there have been no requests on those as well. So I think it’s important to just have that understanding. Admiral, if there’s any requests for other things, that would be your area. Harvey Johnson: From a response recovery perspective, what you perhaps might not see is behind us is a command center, a command center’s national response recovery center. And inside that center when it’s set up for disaster are … every Federal government agency is represented as well as private sector NGOs and various emergency support functions and one of those includes the Department of State. And so they’ve been in all of our briefings. And, for example, as Jay mentioned there’s 30,000 U.S. citizens who live south of the border. And so we’re concerned about them, but of course none of them have expressed any issues at this point. We work with the Department of State through our sister organizations in Mexico and so we’re aware of what their planning is and how they’re taking care of their citizens and whether or not there have been any requests for U.S. support. At this point there has not been a request for U.S. support. We’re cognizant of what’s going on both sides of the border. We’re certainly prepared from our all of our agencies to help and assist with Mexico if a request is forwarded for that. Vivian Crea: From the search and rescue perspective we have an international agreement with Mexico. We’ve got a very close relationship with the Mexican Navy and we’ll be able to provide any assistance with search and rescue. Armand Mascelli: From the Red Cross perspective we have a close working relationship with our counterpart, the Mexican Red Cross and like us they’re standing up and responding appropriately in the northern part of Mexico. We do have a mutual aid agreement so that if assistance is needed on either side of the border then we’ll proceed with that. So far we haven’t moved on anything at this point, but we’re prepared to do it. REPORTER: Are the [U/I] operations [U/I] from the Mexican side of the border comparable to yours? REPORTER: Can you ask that one more time? REPORTER: Since it’s going to come right on the border, have you seen equal preparation from their side as well as from your own? Harvey Johnson: I think what we’ve seen and we’ve had a video teleconference yesterday and the Department of State reported that in all of the local jurisdictions in Mexico they certainly are taking similar preparations as we are. They’ve identified shelter facilities, I think as Mr. Mascelli mentions, they’ve got their version of the Red Cross and so they’re advising their citizens of the weather. Remember last year that we were prepared for Hurricane Dean in the United States, but all those hurricanes went just south to the same area of Mexico. They have a lot of experience as we do and responded to hurricanes and so they’ve taken good precautions. Deborah Wing: If you can also provide your name and organization with your question, that would great. Thanks. Jim Spellman: Jim Spellman, CNN. Mr. Ahern, could you tell us about the drug incident earlier today? Jay Ahern: Yeah, actually we did have just prior to coming over this morning, I was briefed on actually three seizures that occurred at one of our checkpoints at I77 in Texas where we had three criminal organizations independent of one another that tried to make one attempt through, multiple – three individual attempts through the checkpoints. One was – currently we’re estimating about 5,000 to 8,000 pounds of marijuana on a truck coming through the border. Because of conditions on the ground we have not been able to do ahead and do the final count. And also as far as two different loads of smuggled aliens. One in six and we’re still waiting for the tally on the other. I think it proves a point that often times during these times of tragic circumstances criminal organizations try to exploit what they believe to be a weakened position of law enforcement. And one of the things that we strive for is striking that right balance again, making sure safety and security is sourced and paramount for our people. Also the residents in the affected area, but also maintaining as far as a vigilant enforcement posture, we won’t weaken the security of this country. Jim Spellman: I’m sorry, what checkpoint was that? Jay Ahern: The Salinas checkpoint on I77 in Texas. Jim Spellman: And what’s it like trying to go through the process with a hurricane bearing down on you? Jay Ahern: Certainly we have a variety of factors, we have a very detailed policy as far as what’s out there, both at the ports of entry and also between the ports of entry but also at our checkpoints to make sure, again, that we evaluate all the factors that are in front of us. What is important for our forestry environment, what are the given conditions that they’re out there facing as we don’t want to unnecessarily put any of our personnel in danger. We certainly don’t want to put the public in any kind of danger at all, but at the same time we don’t want to open up the pathway for criminal organizations to further their criminal enterprise in drugs or smuggled aliens or other concerns into the interior of the country. Sally Ala, Associated Press Sally Ala, AP. Are you doing the standard immigration checks at the inland checkpoints that would be along the route of evacuations? Jay Ahern: That would be exactly what was just asked as far as the checkpoints. The checkpoints were still operational as we came over here this morning. We’re still balancing it as far as, again, all the different conditions at the particular checkpoints spoke about in I77, and we had a drug seizure of about 5,000 to 8,000 pounds. Again, that’s the range that was initially given, we haven’t got the final tally. And also two loads of smuggled individuals coming through as well. One count was six, we don’t have a tally on the second one, but again, that’s the vigilance. But we’ve seen traffic drop off substantially. Obviously there’s not any ordered evacuation. We’re not seeing congestion on the highways but we were concerned that there could be criminal enterprises trying to exploit this as an opportunity. But we wanted to make sure that we struck that right balance. Jim Spellman: Just one more, Jim Spellman. The big levee that runs along the river there, is that anything that is in danger? First of all, you guys take care of that. And is that anything that would be possibly affected by something like this? Or are there other structures that need to be taken care of in the area? Bill Irwin: Yeah. The levee system that you’re talking about is not a Corps of Engineers levee. It’s kind of an unusual situation. The State Department has responsibility on the American side of the border there for that levee system. And it’s the International Boundary and Water Commission is the entity that’s a Mexican, United States government entity that’s in charge. And they have engineers, they have flood fighting capabilities, they have teams they have contractors and we had a teleconference this afternoon and they’re very well prepared for any of them. Thank you. Jim Spellman: It’s pretty huge. Are they anticipating any issues on the … Bill Irwin: Well, the thing about this storm, I think the last major storm that really impacted that levee system was Hurricane Buehla back in the sixties and that storm was a Category III with 35 inches of rain. This particular storm they’re not expecting nearly that amount of rain. I think it was up to ten inches of rain may be expected if the storm stalls some. So I don’t think there’s major concerns. Jim Spellman: And in the region are there any other levees or similar systems – obviously levees are something on people’s minds. Is it clear that you man it? Bill Irwin: Not the Corps of Engineers. We do some flood control work, but not that would be protecting large amounts of populations. So this is the major levee system in that particular area. Deborah Wing: Okay, if there are no more questions, this concludes our briefing today. If you have any follow up questions please don’t hesitate to call us at 202-646-4600. Thank you.