Hurricane Irma: Scott says Florida needs 17,000 volunteers for relief effort
| Filed in: Florida, Local, newsfeed
DORAL, Fla — Florida Governor Rick Scott gives an update to the media regarding Hurricane Irma. It's still too early to know where the direct impact of the hurricane will take place but the state of Florida is in the area of possible landfall. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
Florida Gov. Rick Scott continued his plea today for more volunteers in preparation for, and in aftermath of Hurricane Irma.
"We've had 6,800 volunteers sign up in the past 24 hours," Scott said during a 10 a.m. televised update from an emergency operations center in Hialeah. He said most of those have been government employees.
"That's great, but we need more," he added. "We going to need 17,000 volunteers statewide."
Even that may not be enough.
Hurricane Irma is still a Category 5 storm packing winds of 175 mph, the most powerful to hit the Atlantic Ocean outside of the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. And it is expected to be the most powerful to make landfall in Florida since Hurricane Andrew 25 years go.
Irma is also a large storm that, if it follows a track of heading down the center of the state, has the potential to cause up to half-a-trillion dollars in damage and leave thousands of Florida resident without homes.
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"The storm is bigger, stronger and faster than Hurricane Andrew," said Scott, who is scheduled to visit the Palm Beach County Emergency Operations Center today and give a noon briefing. "We have to understand that this is serious and not take chances."
Scott said the non-profit Volunteer Florida has 43 teams on stand-by and the American Red Cross is arriving with 1,000 volunteers and several tractor trailers. A Red Cross disaster relief operation is setting up in Orlando, and the Salvation Army and Florida Baptist Convention have kitchens on stand-by to distribute food.
But with the prospect of widespread damage from a direct hit from Hurricane Irma — and Houston's devastation from Hurricane Harvey still fresh in Floridians' minds — Scott has been sounding the volunteer alarm for days.
Scott's pleas are made necessary because relief resources are stretched thin in the wake of Harvey. That goes for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), as well.
DORAL, Fla — (L-R), Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Gov. Rick Scott discuss the need to FEMa aid with the media about Hurricane Irma. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
On Wednesday, Florida Senators Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio reminded that FEMA is scheduled to run out of money on Friday. The agency is hoping to get a $7.5 billion infusion just to deal with Harvey alone; but Nelson and Rubio are pushing their Senate colleagues to add more for Florida to the disaster relief bill because "even with the Harvey supplemental aid package, FEMA is likely to run out of funds before the end of September."
And Nelson took the Senate floor today to urge the immediate passage of a $15 billion disaster aid package needed to fund FEMA past Friday.
"I urge the Senate, I implore the Senate, I beg the Senate to pass this package," Nelson said on the Senate floor. "FEMA is stretched, and, of all things, FEMA runs out of money unless we act by tomorrow."
"I left Florida in the middle of the night to come back to make sure that it has my stamp of imprimatur on this legislation," he continued, "And I'm very glad that the majority leader has agreed to double the amount – basically $7.5 billion, for FEMA and another $7.5 billion for CDBG, Community Development Block Grants, both of which would be for natural disasters."
"I have emailed yesterday to the administrator of FEMA, Brock Long," Nelson added, "People are trying to get out, but they're stuck on the roads, and now they're running out of gasoline … An urgent plea that I made yesterday that I would make to FEMA again, that we get gasoline into the state of Florida."
Scott has already deployed 1,000 members of the Florida National Guard to begin logistical and planning work ahead of Irma's landfall. The governor mobilized another 3,000 this morning. The National Guard also has 1,000 high-water vehicles, 17 boats, 13 helicopters and more than 700 generators on stand-by. More can be brought in from other states, if necessary.
However, Scott insists that people who can help will be needed for everything from food and water distribution to checking on residents to clean up to helping with the disabled in shelters and more.
He urged folks to visit www.volunteerflorida.org to sign up for volunteering opportunities.
"It's not too late," Scott said. "We know that volunteers can make a huge difference."
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Categories: Florida, Local, newsfeed