FEMA Stages Supplies in Alabama, Sends Teams as Hurricane Isaias Nears the Gulf Coast

MOBILE, Ala. — As Hurricane Isaias approaches the northern Gulf Coast, FEMA stages supplies in Montgomery and is sending coordination teams to Alabama and Florida, positioning federal help so it can move quickly if state officials ask for it.

FEMA announced Thursday afternoon, Oct. 8, that disaster response and first-aid materials are being readied at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery to supplement state resources if requested. The agency is also deploying Incident Management Assistance Teams to Alabama and Florida, has activated its national and regional coordination centers, and is preparing urban search and rescue teams in three neighboring states for possible deployment.

The federal moves come as coastal Alabama makes final preparations. The National Hurricane Center’s 4 p.m. Thursday advisory showed Isaias as a Category 2 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 100 mph, and hurricane and storm surge warnings are in effect along the Alabama coast. Landfall is expected late Friday, Oct. 9, or early Saturday, with forecasters warning of storm surge, heavy rainfall and flooding.

What FEMA is doing ahead of the storm

According to the agency, FEMA headquarters and its regional offices are “fully engaged.” Its preparations include:

• Coordination centers activated: The National Response Coordination Center in Washington and FEMA Region 4’s Regional Response Coordination Center in Atlanta are both activated.
• Supplies prepositioned in Alabama: Emergency supplies are being staged at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery to supplement state resources if the state requests them. FEMA said it also operates multiple distribution centers across the country that can rapidly send additional resources.
• Teams on the ground: Incident Management Assistance Teams are deploying to Alabama and Florida to coordinate on site and help process any state requests for federal support. FEMA staff are also embedded in state emergency operations centers across the Southeast, and additional personnel are ready to deploy when needed.
• Search and rescue on standby: National Urban Search and Rescue teams will be activated and staged at locations in Mississippi, Louisiana and Georgia for potential movement if needed.
• Forecast support: FEMA deployed a liaison to the National Hurricane Center in Miami to support forecasting and coordination, while NOAA Hurricane Hunter aircraft continue reconnaissance flights to refine the storm’s track and intensity forecasts.

FEMA said its regional administrators and agency leadership remain in close contact with governors and emergency management officials throughout the Southeast. In its release, the agency stated: “Under President Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin’s leadership, the safety of the American people is DHS’s top priority.”

States lead, FEMA supports

FEMA emphasized that states in the storm’s path are taking the lead in their own response efforts, with federal resources available to support them as needed. That reflects how disaster response works in the United States: local governments and states respond first, and the federal government steps in to fill gaps when a disaster exceeds what they can handle.

In Alabama, that response is already well underway. Gov. Kay Ivey declared a state of emergency for 40 counties across south and central Alabama on Wednesday, and on Thursday afternoon she ordered all non-residents, tourists and visitors to leave Baldwin County areas south of the Intracoastal Waterway, including Gulf Shores and Orange Beach, as well as Mobile County’s Zone 1, which includes Dauphin Island and parts of Bayou La Batre. Baldwin and Mobile counties have declared local emergencies, opened shelters and urged residents in low-lying and flood-prone areas to evacuate.

Under the federal Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, a governor can ask the president for an emergency declaration or a major disaster declaration when the scale of an event is beyond the capabilities of state and local governments. Those declarations unlock different kinds of federal help, from direct support during the emergency to grants that help communities rebuild and, in some cases, assistance for individual households. Prepositioning supplies and teams before landfall is meant to shorten the time between a request and the arrival of help.

Coastal Alabama has been through that process before. After Hurricane Sally made landfall near Gulf Shores in September 2020, a federal major disaster declaration brought assistance to Baldwin, Mobile and other Alabama counties to help with debris removal, repairs and recovery. Emergency managers say the time to think about recovery paperwork, however, is after everyone is safe; the priority now is getting through the storm.

What the federal pieces are

Several of the resources FEMA named have specific roles:

• Incident Management Assistance Teams are groups of experienced emergency managers who work alongside state officials, helping them identify needs and quickly turn those needs into formal requests for federal resources.
• Urban Search and Rescue teams are part of a national system of specialized task forces trained to locate and rescue people trapped in collapsed structures and other dangerous conditions. Staging them in neighboring states keeps them close enough to move in quickly while keeping them out of the storm’s direct path.
• FEMA Region 4, headquartered in Atlanta, serves Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee — the region most directly in the path of Isaias.

Maxwell Air Force Base, in Montgomery, sits well inland from the coast, giving responders a staging point that is close to coastal Alabama but less likely to be hit by surge or the storm’s strongest winds.

FEMA’s guidance: what residents should do now

FEMA urged residents to identify their risks, make a plan and stay informed. The agency listed four steps to take now:

• Stay informed: Sign up for local weather alerts and listen to local officials.
• Make an evacuation plan: Know where you will go, how you will get there and where you can stay if an evacuation becomes necessary.
• Make a communications plan: Know how you will communicate with family and friends after a disaster.
• Get supplies: Keep enough food, water and essential items on hand to last several days.

Local officials have echoed that advice with more specific targets. Mobile and Baldwin County leaders have asked residents to have at least 72 hours of food and water, fill prescriptions and finish preparations before conditions deteriorate Friday. Mobile County EMA Director Mike Evans has asked residents to be off the roads and somewhere safe by noon Friday.

Practical checklist

Along with FEMA’s four steps, emergency managers commonly recommend:

• Storing about a gallon of water per person per day, plus nonperishable food and a manual can opener.
• Keeping medications, a first-aid kit, flashlights, extra batteries and a battery-powered or hand-crank radio.
• Charging phones and backup batteries, and keeping some cash on hand in case power outages disable card readers.
• Putting insurance policies, identification and other important documents in a waterproof container, or saving digital copies.
• Photographing your home and belongings before the storm to help with any insurance claims.
• Making arrangements for pets, including food, carriers and vaccination records.

Safety during and after the storm

Federal and local officials warn that many hurricane injuries and deaths happen after the winds die down. Never drive or walk through flooded roads; just a few inches of moving water can knock a person down, and a foot or two can carry away a vehicle. Turn Around, Don’t Drown.

Run portable generators only outdoors and far from doors, windows and vents to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning, which is odorless and can be deadly. Treat every downed power line as energized, and stay away. Wait for local officials to say it is safe before returning to evacuated areas, and stay out of Gulf waters, where dangerous surf and rip currents are expected to linger after the storm passes.

Residents should also be cautious about storm-related scams after a disaster. FEMA employees carry official identification, and the agency does not charge fees to apply for assistance.

Where to find official information

FEMA and local officials encourage residents to rely on official sources rather than social media rumors:

• Ready.gov, FEMA’s preparedness site, for checklists and planning guides
• The FEMA app, which provides weather alerts, shelter information and preparedness tips
• The National Hurricane Center (nhc.noaa.gov) and the National Weather Service in Mobile for forecasts, watches and warnings
• The Alabama Emergency Management Agency for statewide updates
• Baldwin County EMA and Mobile County EMA for local shelters, evacuations and closures

If a federal disaster declaration is approved after the storm, information on applying for individual assistance is typically posted at DisasterAssistance.gov and announced by FEMA and state officials.

What happens next

FEMA said it will continue to monitor the storm’s development and coordinate closely with state and local officials to ensure readiness for potential impacts. Whether the supplies at Maxwell and the teams staged around the region are ultimately called into Alabama will depend on what Isaias does when it comes ashore and on what the state requests.

For now, the message from federal and local officials is the same: finish preparations, heed evacuation orders and be somewhere safe before the storm arrives.