EPA Hurricane Irma Update – Oct. 31, 2:50 p.m. EST
ALWAYS CALL 911 if you are in immediate danger and need emergency help.
For information about Irma recovery in Puerto Rico, please contact:
• Puerto Rico Emergency Management and Disaster Administration Agency (AEMEAD): 787-724-0124
For information about Irma recovery in the U.S. Virgin Islands, please contact:
• Virgin Islands Territorial Emergency Management Agency (VITEMA): 340-774-2244
To report suspected spills, contamination or possible violations:
• To report oil, chemical, or hazardous substance releases or spills, call the National Response Center 1-800-424-8802 (24 hours a day every day). For those without 800 access, please call 202-267-2675.
• Report a suspected environmental violation on EPA's reporting page.
For general questions about EPA’s response in Region 4, please call 1-800-241-1754 during regular business hours.
Media inquiries should be directed to press@epa.gov.
EPA continues to coordinate closely with local, state, tribal, and federal partners in response to Hurricane Irma. Emergency response staff, including On-Scene Coordinators, are working on regional assessment and response deployment activities, as detailed below.
At the request of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC), EPA field teams continue vessel recovery operations in Marathon Key. To date, the EPA has recovered 65 vessels in the Marathon Key area and transported them to FWC staging areas. EPA estimates that 83 vessels remain to be addressed within our area of responsibility. Currently, EPA vessel recovery operations are limited to private canals in Sector Key West. Operations in the remainder of the state are led by the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG).
Landfill Technical Specialists continue assistance with debris management in the Keys and have performed 244 site visits, to date.
EPA participated in a briefing on Unified Command operations to a congressional delegation led by House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Saturday, October 28. The briefing was held at the USCG Sector Key West Station.
EPA On Scene Coordinators, scientists, technical assistance professionals and other first responders have deployed and will continue to deploy to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to assess conditions in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. EPA’s hurricane response operations in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands will be documented at www.epa.gov/hurricane-maria.
EPA has developed a number of fact sheets in English and Spanish that provide helpful information about EPA’s role in hurricane response. In addition, the EPA has important information about how to safely begin recovery from a hurricane. EPA has informational pamphlets in English and Spanish about cleaning up after a flood. For general advice and tips and information about preparedness and recovery, visit FEMA’s Irma web page.
