To: "Hurricane Floyd Disaster Group"
Here is the situation with Hurricane Floyd threatening the Southeast Coast
of the United States. The storm is described as three times the size of
Hurricane Andrew and just as powerful. This is an extremely dangerous
situation for people and animals alike:
FLORIDA: State ESF-17 (animal protection) is fully operational. The
Florida Dept of Agriculture is the lead agency. They will be focusing on
agricultural issues and staffing the Florida Emergency Operations Center.
The Humane Society of the United States has officially been placed in
charge of all companion animal issues. We will be operating for now out
of the Southeast Regional Office in Tallahassee.
Mandatory evacuations have gone up in many of the east coast communities.
At this point, the animal evacuations seem to be the large animals,
specifically horses. The Florida Department of Agriculture has waived all
regulations on movement of large animals through the state. Alachua and
Marion counties have now said they have no evacuation sites left for large
animals. Hernando and Tampa Fairgrounds and Cecil Webb Wildlife Area are
open, but are expected to fill up early tomorrow. State ESF-17 is
requesting the major fairgrounds facilities in Perry, GA and Montgomery,
AL, be opened to evacuating horses. We will know more tomorrow. All
Florida counties have been notified of the large animal evacuation sites by
state e-mail. The Perry, GA, site will be dependent on the track of the
storm, since that facility may have to be used by those Georgia residents
fleeing the coast.
One Northeast animal shelter has notified us they are preparing the
evacuate tomorrow if necessary. Orlando Humane Society will be taking 80
animals from Brevard County tomorrow to relieve some of the overcrowding
there. All other shelters contacted are making preparations.
American Humane Association (AHA) is moving its Animal Planet truck from
California to the SE area over the next day or two. A Florida coordinator
will be in charge of AHA's 12 person response team. The Code 3 truck is
in Tennessee. International Fund for Animal Welfare's disaster relief
coordinator, Jennifer Homcy, lives in the potential landfall area and
Shirley Minshew, her second in command, is en route from Michigan to her
home in the Macon, GA, area. The Humane Society of the United States has a
team based in Tallahassee right now operating out of the Southeast Regional
Office. We are also working with FEMA. United Animal Nations has offered
assistance from California.
I spoke to Dr. Larry Dee and he will be coordinating the veterinary effort
in FL for the FVMA. Dr. Cindy Lovern of the AVMA has released information
that the Federal VMAT teams (veterinary response teams) are on alert.
We are receiving a large number of offers of assistance from around the
state. Once we know what Floyd's path will be, we will be contacting those
of you who made the offers.
GEORGIA: Georgia Department of Agriculture is staffing the State EOC for
animal issues. In Georgia, animals are ESF-14. Dr. Paul Williams is the
agency contact. The Humane Association of Georgia is the coordinating
agency under Department of AG for animal issues. Bobbie Thompson of
Milledgeville is the Disaster Coordinator. I am keeping in contact with
Bobbie via e-mail. Georgia is preparing, but not with the same urgency at
this time as Florida. We will pass on information from Georgia as we get
it in.
SOUTH CAROLINA: The Governor has declared a state of emergency and called
out the national guard. The forecast path is for Floyd to make landfall
south of the Charleston area. This could potentially devastate the whole
state. We will be contacting SC tomorrow once the storm track is more
defined.
According to the National Hurricane Center, Hurricane Floyd is moving
faster than predicted. It is expected to move northward, but wasn't making
the expected turn yet. It is not being influenced by the weather systems
the forecasters hoped would steer it away from Florida and the east coast.
"It's controlling its own destiny," said Jerry Jarrell, director of the
Hurricane Center. "That's a bad sign."
That says it all folks, for now...
Laura Bevan [via Chere and Gary. BIG]
The Humane Society of the United States / Southeast Regional Office
Florida Animal Disaster Planning Advisory Committee (ADPAC)
Florida Disaster Animal Response Team (DART)
-----------------------------------
end status report..
Gary & the gang of fur
Timmy's web site=<http://www.concentric.net/~Gferret/>; He's the
ferret totally healed from "terminal lymphoma" without drugs or
surgery. :)
Timmy's Mailing List = http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/TimmyFerret
Timmy's Forum = http://forums.delphi.com/m/main.asp?sigdir=TimmyFerret
[Posted in FML issue 2805]
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