Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Alexander Kubitza

The Department of Defense continues to be fully engaged with FEMA and the whole of government relief efforts related to Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

The Department will continue to work closely with our federal, state, and local partners to ensure we are doing everything we can to support and coordinate the ongoing disaster response efforts to aid our fellow Americans impacted by these devastating storms. Secretary Austin has been receiving daily updates on these response efforts and convened meetings yesterday and again today with Deputy Secretary Kathleen Hicks, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Christopher Grady, US Northern Command Commander Gregory Guillot, National Guard Bureau Acting Vice Chief Lieutenant General John Stubbs, and other senior DOD leaders to discuss the latest department efforts to support the federal, state, and local response.

Additionally, Secretary Austin, Deputy Secretary Hicks, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General CQ Brown Jr. also participated in President Biden’s White House meeting today with the Vice President, DHS Secretary, and other senior DOD leaders to discuss the response to Milton and ongoing relief for Helene. Because of efforts to prepare and evacuate, this was not a worst case scenario, and evacuation orders saved lives. As you know, Hurricane Milton impacted Florida as a category three storm, and DOD took appropriate precautions in advance for our facilities based in Florida to ensure the safety and security of our personnel, their families and our equipment.

Of note, US Special Operations Command and US Central Command remain evacuated from MacDill Air Force Base and will reenter when safe. The priority is the safety of personnel and their families and ensuring they have the resources they need as they recover from Hurricane Milton. Both commands continue to operate out of multiple locations, ensuring no degradation to operations. We’ll provide updates as they become available.

In terms of specific DOD actions, first I’ll address our efforts related to Hurricane Milton and then I’ll turn to Hurricane Helene. As of this morning, the Florida National Guard has activated more than 6,500 Guardsmen and mobilized 500-plus high water vehicles, 26 helicopters and more than a dozen watercraft from a dozen states for the response and recovery mission following Hurricane Milton. In addition, another 3,000 National Guardsmen from 19 states are also ready to support.

Also, the US Army Corps of Engineers has approximately 250 people supporting the response with temporary roof support, debris control, flood control, waterway clearance and more. US Northern Command and US Army North have also have active duty forces and capabilities postured and ready to support FEMA when requested, to include up to 60 high water vehicles from Fort Stewart, Georgia, up to 100 US Marines from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina to provide support for urban search and rescue, search and rescue helicopters plus light and medium rotary wing airlift aircraft from the 3rd Infantry Division, as well as command and control support capabilities. Additionally, NAS Whiting, Eglin Air Force Base, Moody Air Force Base, Fort Moore and Fort Stewart have all been designated as staging areas for hurricane relief and support efforts.

Turning to Hurricane Helene, the department’s support for the US government’s combined response continues. The National Guard has approximately 5,000 Guardsmen, 80 high water vehicles and 50 helicopters from 17 states mobilized. More than 1,500 active duty members are deployed to North Carolina as well, working with federal, state and local partners on the coordinated response effort.

These active duty forces have been engaged in road clearing and commodity distribution such as delivery of food and water. The XVIII Airborne Corps soldiers are currently conducting operations in nine counties and have cleared 45 miles of roads in Haywood County, 28 miles in the town of Poplar, and 14 miles in Buncombe County.

Seven active duty CH-47 have flown a combined 37 hours in support of resupply missions, and overland commodities distribution continues using highly mobile infantry squad vehicles. In addition, the US Army Corps of Engineers has more than 550 personnel mobilized to 14 emergency operations centers across the region, supporting debris control, temporary power infrastructure assessment, flood control and safe waterways assessment. We’ll continue to keep you updated on additional DOD support to both Hurricane Helene and Milton.

Turning to a different part of the world, at the request of the government of the Philippines, the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force and the USS Boxer are providing humanitarian assistance operations in the Philippines following Typhoon Krathon, known locally as Julian, which made landfall on September 30th. The US military is providing air transport and other assistance, including transporting 98,000 pounds of supplies in coordination with the Armed Forces of the Philippines through the US Department of Defense Overseas Humanitarian Disaster and Civic Aid Program.

As always, the United States is committed to supporting our allies and partners in their times of need. For additional questions, I’d refer you to Indo-Pacific Command Public Affairs.

And shifting gears, earlier today Secretary Austin spoke with his United Kingdom counterpart, Secretary of State for Defense John Healey, to discuss defense related issues of mutual interest between our two nations. A full readout of the call will be available later today on Defense.gov.

And finally, I’d like to wish an early happy birthday to the US Navy, which is 249 years young this weekend.

 

[Editor’s note: The remainder of the press conference is the questions from the press and Major Ryder’s responses. Here is a link to additional information about the DOD’s efforts pertaining to hurricane relief].

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