AUG 31- HURRICANE UPDATE

AVAILABILITY
FL 04 - AVAILABLE - Pre-Alert to the Gulf Coast - Hurricane Support
FL 05 - AVAILABLE - Pre-Alert to the Gulf Coast - Hurricane Support
FL 06 - AVAILABLE - Pre-Alert to the Gulf Coast - Hurricane Support
FL 07 - HURRICANE GUSTAV SUPPORT - Baton Rouge, LA

Gustav is now a catagory 4. Officials say it could become a Cat 5 today.

Texas Forest Service received several mission assignments from the Governor's Division of Emergency Management. The Lone Star State Incident Management Team is activated. Team members will rally in College Station no later than 1500, 8-31-08 and await deployment instructions. Five Type III local government teams, led by TFS personnel, have also been activated and will rally in College Station no later than 1500, 8-31-08 and await deployment instructions. TFS aviation personnel (seven team members) have been requested by Galveston Island to assist with the airlift of patients from the University of Texas Medical Branch planned for 8-31-08. Additional missions to support evacuations from the Beaumont/Port Arthur area are pending and will be supported with adequate numbers of trained personnel. TFS is assisting with planning and resource tracking at the Corpus Christi and San Antonio District Disaster Councils. TFS is assisting with setting up the Resource Staging Area in Tyler and eleven employees will provide support in managing the RSA as commodities begin arriving 8-30-08. TFS has placed an agency representative at the SOC in Austin and also an additional support person to liaison with the private sector teams in coordinating commodities distribution though the Points of Distribution. The U.S. Forest Service is working with FEMA and placed personnel in the FEMA Region VI headquarters in Denton, in addition to several planning personnel at the State Operations Center in Austin.

18 Urban Search and Rescue Task Force Teams have been activated.
Multiple Private organizations contracted by FEMA have been activated.

The first Frontline Medical unit will travel Monday morning. I will do my best to keep you all informed of our situation. Cellular service may be limited for a short time, internet access may be scarce. As soon as communications are back up and running, I will be updating this site daily. It feels a little funny to be driving in to something most folks are running away from. It sounds as thought things are a bit more organized than Katrina. New Orleans Mayor announced there would be no help for those who stayed behind.

Dj