Ongoing Gustav News and Updates...
Links & Updates
To track storms, click here.
For the latest from Fox News.
For the latest & instructions details from FEMA.
CEN's Ready Church Initiative Report - Launching Sept 2008 to help "ready" your church to be prepared and able to respond in your own local community.
CEN's Ready Church Updates -- Sign up to receive Ready Church updates in the coming weeks and months as Ready Church groups start up across the nation.
CEN's Training Seminars - -CEN can help your chuch community get acquainted with local emergency procedures and protocol to best be able to help should a local disaster come your way. CEN trains you to always approach preparedness and response actions with the biblical worldview of biblical truth, love and compassion.
Donations to Assist Christian Readiness-Response-and-Recovery -- click here.
Prayer Reminders:
We are thankful that the strength of the storm diminished, but continue to pray that the effects will be minimized and that recovery goes well...and that we as a nation will prepare for and respond to the hurricanes and tropical storms to follow
For God to use these troubled times to draw people to Himself through the truths of scripture and the love and compassion of Christians around them.
Pray for continued wisdom and strength of God's people who are in key positions to help, and who are already housing and servicing many through many different service groups
Connect with your church denomination's disaster response divisions and Christian ministries to offer your services and donations. Participate with CEN and other groups that also offer the truths and compassion of Jesus Christ, not just material goods and sheltering
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
We are thanking God that Gustav's impact is not as devasting as earlier anticipated...something we are not taking lightly.
We also ask that you Christians continue to pray for the recovery efforts, relief workers, and impact that the gospel of Jesus Christ will have through the messages and compassion shared with many.
Monday, September 1, 2008
Gustav was lowered to a category 2 hurricane as of early this morning, and is now downrated to a category 1 as of 3 pm Eastern Time. It is still hitting shores with force and is now inland leaving much damage. Gustav's wind, rain, flooding and tornados are occurring across the lower parts of Louisiana and Mississipp. Parts of Texas and Florida are also experiencing high winds and some rain.
Evacuations have occurred smoothly, with people allowed to carry 2 bags and a pet. All of President Bush's plans put into place for times of natural disasters after Katrina have been executed well.
Faith-based groups are encouraged to help provide family supplies to the temporary shelters through their church and ministry response options. Click here for volunteer/donation options.
Tropical Storms / Hurricanes Hanna and Ike are close behind and are being monitored by all authorities.
Gustav, though downgraded to a category 3 as of early this morning, is still expected to hit Gulf Coast shores Monday...and may bring with it even more flooding than Katrina as it is anticipated to regain strenth before it hits. Mandatory evacuations are occurring today in several areas, and preparations are occurring from Louisiana all the way to Florida.
Be responsible, follow community emergency evacuations and response instructions. Be in prayer, and respond with help through Christ-based ministries and your own denominational disaster response groups that provide the messages and hope of Jesus Christ alongside their other works.
For CEN's Advisory with FEMA details and more today, click here.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Gustav is expected to reach Gulf Coast shoresas early as Monday overnight as a possible category 3,4 or even 5. Evacuations and many preparations are occurring this weekend. Be in prayer for the residents and first responders who are already in place to quickly respond.
Updates from FEMA (in several categories below):
The Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA) is working with a variety of federal agencies and voluntary
organizations to support state and local authorities in their early response to
Hurricane Gustav. President Bush has issued pre-landfall Emergency Disaster
Declarations for Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi which enables federal aid to
supplement state and local response efforts due to the potential emergency
conditions resulting from Hurricane Gustav.
FEMA encourages all residents in the region to make final personal preparations
to be able to meet their basic needs for 72-hours after landfall. Residents are
reminded to include text messaging in their communication plans in case cellular
calls are limited. Information is available at www.Ready.gov on how families
and individuals can best prepare before the storm.
FEMA has activated an interagency planning team to work with states on the
Atlantic coast to prepare for Tropical Storm Hanna, which could impact
Southeastern or Gulf Coast states later in the week.
With communities at risk from the Texas border to the Florida Keys, FEMA and its
federal partners are working directly with state and local officials to provide
the resources they need to execute their disaster plans. In one example of this
teamwork approach: at the request of Louisiana, FEMA coordinated with the
Department of Defense to provide aircraft capable of medical evacuations and
with the Departments of Health and Human Services and Veterans Affairs to
provide health care professionals to support these moves.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
• FEMA’s National Response Coordination Center and Regional Response
Coordination Centers in Atlanta, Ga., and Denton, Texas, are operating around
the clock, coordinating the prepositioning of assets and responding to state
requests for assistance.
• FEMA has deployed Incident Management Assistance Teams (IMAT) to Louisiana,
Mississippi and Texas. An Advanced Emergency Response Team (ERT-A) has been
deployed to Alabama and a “Warm Cell” team is already active in the Louisiana
Emergency Operations Center.
• 18 Urban Search and Rescue task forces and incident support teams have been deployed to the region from Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, New
York, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Virginia.
• FEMA’s emergency teams and resources are being deployed and configured for coordinated response. FEMA has pre-staged life-saving and life-sustaining
commodities such water, meals, and tarps in various strategic locations to be
made available to residents of affected areas, including:
More than 2.4 million liters of water (137 truckloads).
More than 4 million meals (203 truckloads).
478 emergency generators.
141 truckloads of tarps.
267 truckloads of blankets and cots.
Transportation Security Administration (TSA)
• TSA has deployed 45 Transit Teams and 150 Transit Security Officers to
facilitate the evacuation of critical transit need individuals.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
• CBP has deployed 20 Law Enforcement Officers to help protect Search & Rescue efforts and 100 law enforcement personnel to help with evacuation and
contra-flow traffic issues.
U.S. Coast Guard (USCG)
• The Coast Guard reminds the public to keep a close watch on the hurricane as
it approaches, pay attention to safety announcements from the local governments,
and to listen to any evacuation notices that are given. It is important that
mariners and the general public also stay alert for waterway and bridge closures
in advance of the storm.
• The Coast Guard will begin conducting pre-storm over flights of estimated
land fall locations based on NOAA weather models to identify potential issues
this weekend.
• USCG Cutters DECISIVE and NORTHLAND will be in the area immediately after the storm to provide a Command and Control platform.
• The Coast Guard currently has 19 Search and Rescue (SAR) helicopters and 10 SAR fixed wing aircraft available at Mobile, New Orleans, Corpus Christi, and
Houston. 4 DART teams are on standby. DARTS have boats and personnel capable of conducting rescue in shallow water and urban environments.
• The Transportable Multi-Mission Communications Center Trailer should arrive
at the pre-staging point at Aviation Training Center Mobile Saturday.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)
• USACE has alerted and begun deploying to the Gulf Coast both local and
regional teams from across the nation to assist in debris removal, commodities
procurement and delivery, temporary emergency power, temporary housing,
temporary roofing, infrastructure assessment, and support to urban search and
rescue missions.
Department of Defense (DOD) U.S. National Guard Bureau (NGB)
• National Guard units are standing by with people & equipment to assist civil
authorities and first responders in TX, LA, MS, AL and FL.
• Nearly 400,000 National Guard Citizen-Soldiers and Airmen, to include 65,000
in the Gulf Coast region, are available to assist with hurricane response and
recovery.
• The National Guard continues to work with our local, state and federal
partners to coordinate response efforts.
U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM)
• NORTHCOM is providing aero-medical evacuations for up to 1,000 patients in
Louisiana and provide aero-medical evacuations for up to 500 patients in Texas.
• NORTHCOM provides contracted airlift to move 16,000 general population
passengers and cargo in support of disaster operations in response to Hurricane
Gustav. In addition, the airlift will move response personnel from New Orleans
to Dallas-Fort Worth.
• NORTHCOM provides support for National Logistic Staging Areas at: Ft.
Rucker, Ala.; Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala.; Columbus Air Force Base, Miss.; and
Naval Air Station Meridian, Miss.
U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT)
• To facilitate evacuations, DOT deployed team of transportation experts to
assist states with evacuation procedures and to provide bus and rail car safety
inspections as needed.
• DOT is managing planned contra-flow traffic on major highways to allow for
expanded evacuation efforts and is tracking fuel availability along evacuation
routes.
• DOT is providing air traffic control to support air evacuations, with
standby mobile air traffic control equipment on standby in Houston to serve as
back-ups in case the storm damages equipment.
• Ready reserve vessel in Beaumont, TX port is storing local fire and police
vehicles during storm to avoid flooding.
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
• USDA's Rural Development is ready to help individuals needing payment
assistance on their existing USDA Rural Development Single and Multi-family
loans who are affected by Hurricane Gustav. They are encouraged to contact the
Centralized Servicing Center at (800) 414-1226.
• Rural Development also will give rural communities and businesses priority
consideration for funding through its Rural Community Facilities programs and
the Rural Business Enterprise Grant program to help with programs and
rehabilitation needed as a result of Hurricane Gustav.
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
• HHS has activated the National Disaster Medical System.
• Approximately 1,100 personnel are in place in the Gulf Coast region, with
another 400 remain on alert, and HHS has placed nine Federal Medical Stations,
each with a 250-bed capacity. Five are in place in Texas and four are on alert
in Louisiana.
• Caches of medical supplies are in place into the Gulf Coast region and
additional caches of medical supplies are ready to deploy.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
• CDC is emphasizing three key messages in their communications to the public
across the gulf coast region and through public service announcements on
television in the area:
Before the storm, learn about your community’s plans and prepare your
family: learn about your community’s emergency plans, warning signals,
evacuation routes, and emergency shelters; stock your home with supplies and
have emergency kits for your car and home; make arrangements with friends or
family for transportation if you don’t have a vehicle.
Help elderly and disabled family and neighbors to stay safe during an
evacuation: take their prescription medicines with you; turn off gas,
electricity, and water and disconnect appliances before you leave; put their
livestock and pets in a safe area.
Help elderly and disabled family and neighbors to stay safe during a storm:
if you are told to stay at home in a storm, everyone should keep indoors and
away from windows and exterior
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
• EPA granted a fuel waiver requested by the state of Louisiana to increase
the flexibility of fuel supplies in Louisiana during preparations/evacuations
for Hurricane Gustav. The waiver is effective through September 8 and allows
the sale of conventional gasoline in 16 parishes that otherwise require low RVP
(Reid vapor pressure) fuel during the summer ozone season.
• EPA’s potentially-impacted regional water programs are coordinating with
their State counterparts in preparation for potential support should Gustav
impact the water sector and overwhelm local and State capabilities.
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
• VA has evacuated at-risk patients from the most exposed VA hospitals to
facilities in Oklahoma City, Okl., Little Rock, Ark., and Dallas, Tex.
• VA is providing emergency managers to federal and state operations centers
and has 190 medical staff on-hand to staff additional Federal Medical Stations
as needed.
U.S. Department of Treasury
• The Department of Treasury is working to expedite check and direct deposit
payments in the affected areas for certain federal benefits that are scheduled
for regular delivery in the first week of the month.
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
• The Critical Incident Response Group from Quantico is forward deploying a
small team to Louisiana. Field Offices in Houston, Louisiana, Alabama,
Mississippi and Florida have their crisis response plans in an early stage of
activation. Division Crisis Managers are available for deployment if needed.
The field offices will remain staffed with critical personnel.
• Two Command Post vehicles are situated in Dallas and two additional vehicles
are deploying from the DNC in Denver to the Southeast.
• Regional SWAT Teams have been placed on standby status. FBI assets,
including investigators, analysts, evidence response teams, hazardous material
teams and others are available.
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF)
• ATF has issued two open letters to all federal firearms licensees and
federal explosives licensees and permittees with recommendations to store and
secure inventories.
The open letters provided recommendations if one needs to evacuate their
premises and/or store records and inventory at alternate location.
The open letters provide recommendations on actions to take if one’s
premises or inventory is destroyed or partially damaged.
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
• HUD staff are helping to manage the evacuation of public housing units in
Louisiana and will work on additional evacuations as necessary.
U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA)
• SBA has staff in Louisiana, Texas, Alabama and Mississippi to coordinate
activities with federal and state partners.
• Reservists have been activated to staff SBA’s Disaster Customer Service
Center (25 customer service reps), the Field Inspection Team (111 on stand-by),
and the Processing and Disbursement center (59 loan offices; 10 attorneys).
• SBA’s field offices are using marketing materials to get the word out about
preparedness to residents and business owners in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi,
Alabama and Florida.
Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC)
• EMAC is coordinating requests from other, non-impacted states for support
from Louisiana and Texas. Pennsylvania, Delaware and Ohio are among the states providing support for medical evacuations.
FEMA coordinates the federal government’s role in preparing for, preventing,
mitigating the effects of, responding to, and recovering from all domestic
disasters, whether natural or man-made, including acts of terror. For more
information on FEMA activities visit www.FEMA.gov and for more information on
personal preparedness see www.Ready.gov.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Gustav, this morning, is slamming into Jamaica and now is anticipated to hit the Gulf Coast shores Tuesday morning. All of Louisiana is on high alert, with departures and preparedness processes already in motion.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Be Aware...and now Be Prepared as well....
Gustav (back down to a Tropical Storm since winds are not at 90 mph as of Wed morning) is picking up speed, and may even head toward New Orleans. It's now anticipated that Gustav has potential to be a hurricane again by maybe Saturday. CEN encourages Christians in the path to prepare responsibly with supplies, medications, a family communication plan, and a trust and hope in Jesus Christ who is sovereign over all.
Is your church ready...to survive? to offer help & training to the community? to respond from all over the country? CEN is launching the Ready Church Initiative this fall, having just finished a 3-week pilot of it in Santa Rosa this August. Read the Ready Church Report...and look for ways you and your church can get ready to serve your community in the name of Jesus Christ, and with the hope of Jesus Christ.
Note from the Department of Homeland Security's Ready Campaign and FEMA, Aug 27:
FEMA reports that all of its military teams and emergency response groups are on heightened alert, and have personnel and supplies ready for deployment.
As Tropical Storm Gustav makes its way into the Gulf of Mexico, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Ready Campaign (www.ready.gov) reminds
Specifically, the Ready Campaign encourages citizens to get an emergency supply kit, make an emergency plan, and to be informed about what to do if Tropical Storm Gustav gains strength, turns into a hurricane, and heads in their direction.
“If residents make individual and family preparations, they make it easier for first responders to focus on people who can’t help themselves and need help first.”
Ready’s Web site, www.ready.gov, is a free resource where individuals can find an emergency supply checklist, download an emergency plan and link to local information. Ready also has resources and tools available on its Web site to help business owners ensure their business plans stay up and running, talk to their employees and protect their assets. For information in Spanish visit www.listo.gov. Individuals can also call 1-800-BE-READY or 1-888-SE-LISTO for more emergency preparedness information.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Be Aware...
Hurricane Category 1 Gustav made landfall on Haiti during the overnight hours today with 90 mph winds. It's fast-moving, and is also sending oil prices soaring as the storm is expected to hit the Gulf of Mexico.
Cuba and Jamaica are in the path thus far. Routes of cruise ships are being diverted to alternate ports. Guantanamo miliary base in Cuba is preparing for the hurricane to hit later today or tomorrow.
