TEMA Sends Emergency Operations Support Team to South Carolina
Nashville, Tenn. – The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) is deploying a team of emergency support professionals today to Columbia, S.C. to provide specialized assistance in South Carolina’s Emergency Operations Center throughout Hurricane Florence’s landfall and aftermath.
The seven-member team will work on missions and tasks for South Carolina in logistics, operations, planning, public information, and recovery throughout the hurricane emergency on the Carolina coast.
“We are proud of these dedicated, professional Tennesseans who have answered the call for help and are selflessly helping our neighbors in South Carolina as they face the potential for catastrophic damages from Hurricane Florence,” TEMA Director Patrick Sheehan said. “We are thankful for them and for their families who allow them to volunteer and leverage their skills and experience to aid our neighbors.”
Team members include representatives from Humphreys County Emergency Management, Maury County Emergency Management, Tennessee Department of Agriculture, Tennessee Department of Health, and Tennessee Emergency Management Agency.
The team is expected to be on a 16-day deployment in South Carolina with five members leaving today and two members leaving one week later to relieve other personnel.
The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) is coordinating Tennessee’s Hurricane Florence deployments through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC), the nation’s state-to-state mutual aid system.
This is the fourth day for the State of Tennessee to send emergency teams to the Carolinas. Previous deployments have included ambulance strike teams, communications personnel, emergency managers, nurse strike teams, and swift-water rescue personnel.
TEMA began assembling and deploying the response teams Monday as Hurricane Florence strengthened to a Category 2 storm with maximum sustained winds of 130 mph. Hurricane Florence strengthened Tuesday to a Category 4 storm with winds of 140 mph.
Today, Hurricane Florence is located just off the Carolina coasts as a Category 2 storm with100 mph winds. Forecasters predict Hurricane Florence could drop up to 40 inches of rain in some locations as the storm hovers over the Carolinas through Sunday.
TEMA’s 24-hour Watch Point is monitoring Hurricane Florence’s path and forecast for any potential Tennessee Impact.
About the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency: TEMA’s mission is to coordinate preparedness, response and recovery from man-made, natural and technological hazards in a professional and efficient manner in concert with our stakeholders. Follow TEMA on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, and, at www.tn.gov/tema.
About ReadyTN: ReadyTN is a mobile device application from the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) providing emergency preparedness, response, and recovery information to Tennesseans. Ready TN is available for mobile devices running Apple and Android operating systems. For more information on ReadyTN’s features and on downloading, visit www.tn.gov/tema/ready-tn.html.