FEMA PRESS BRIEFING ON GUSTAV 
 
TITLE:   August 29, 2008 FEMA Teleconference 
 
TOPIC (if needed):  Hurricane Gustav 
 
DATE:           August 29, 2008 
 
LENGTH:   38 minutes 
 
PARTICIPANTS:  Unidentified Female 1 
    Unidentified Male 1 
 
ABBREVIATIONS:  [U/I] = Unintelligible 
[PH] = Phonetic Spelling     
 
 
Speaker
  
 Transcription
 
  
  
  
 
Unidentified Male 1: 
  
 Admiral Johnson, the Deputy Administrator from FEMA  
, will make his opening remarks.  Thank you very much. 
 
Admiral Johnson: 
  
 Well, good afternoon.  Thank you very much for attending and being able to represent all the issues that were planning right now for Hurricane Gustav.  Actually Tropical Storm today, but our weather brief was it ought to be a Category II by the time it reaches the western tip of Cuba and could very well expect it to be a Category III by the time it reaches land in the United States.
 
Were expecting tropical storm force winds to arrive sometime on Monday.  Monday will be a rough weather day along the Gulf Coast.  And by early Tuesday morning landfall of a Cat III hurricane. 
 
That brings storm surging anywhere from 15 feet to 30 feet.  And it will be the largest storm thats approach the coast of the United States and the Gulf Coast again, three years ago from Hurricane Katrina.  A huge difference between the 2008 hurricane season and the 2005 hurricane season.  We just finished about a two-hour video teleconference, which is about an hour too long.  We took an extra hour to go through each of the states involved, the Federal family involved and we talked about the preparations that we all have in place in advance of Hurricane Gustav. 
 
There are phenomenal improvements at the Federal level, at the State level and the local level that were going to benefit from and were going to be able to watch and see as a result of all the lessons learned and the planning and the coordination among all the levels of government and citizens over the last three years. 
 
We have resources from Pennsylvania and New York and this morning New Mexico offered up to host evacuees out of Louisiana unexpectedly.  States are all helping each other and with all these Federal families that you have here beside us, were all working hand in hand, and have been, in preparation not just for this hurricane, but also for any disaster that might strike the United States. 
 
The VTC basically affirmed for us that the States are ready.  All states will begin evacuations tomorrow.  Some states are doing medical evacuations today.  It will be an orchestrated, coordinated affair across the Gulf Coast.  Contra flows have come into place across all states in the Gulf Coast on Sunday morning about four or five oclock.  All states talking to each other, planning together, sharing resources and working together as a team. 
 
So let me just leave that as my opening comments.  I think youregoing to hear a lot  a lot from each of these members and Ill come back at the end and have a couple of comments at the end. 
 
Bill Etter[PH]: 
  
 Thank you, Admiral Johnson.  Yeah, my name Bill Etter from the National Guard Bureau.  Id like to talk to you just a little bit about the preparedness of the National Guard.  Right now along the Gulf States therere 65,000 National Guard troops available to the governors full response.  If you take in the whole domestic United States, the number is just shy of 400,000. 
 
To put that in perspective from three years ago, thats an increase of about 10 percent in personnel, but from the equipping standpoint, were in much better shape.  Due to the strong interest of D.O.D. and the great support from Congress we have almost double the equipment available for domestic response.  We believe thats very important. 
 
Additionally, as you can see from my presence here at the FEMA news conference, we have great relationships with FEMA, with NorthCom, with the Interagency partners, with DHS and the entire Federal agencies.  We believe that that will strength the response.  So were very confident that any responses required will be rapid and effective.  We also would like to just, from a personal note, just remind everyone that if you are given instruction by your local or state where you live, you should follow those because that helps in the flow as you mentioned with the evacuations, sir. 
 
If there are any questions, Mr. Harrison, could you put your hand up for just a second?  If therere any questions that you need beyond this if we dont answer your question here, Mr. Harrison will be available to also help out.  Thank you. 
 
Craig Vanderwagon[PH]: 
  
 Good afternoon.  Im Craig Vanderwagon.  Im with Health and Human Services.  And I would echo what the General just said.  That it is a collaborative and partnership process that begins with our state and local partners and extends to our Federal relationships. 
 
To protect the public health during Hurricane Gustav, a wide number of our agencies are working closely  closely with states and local agencies for being our public health response.  Weve activated the National Disaster Medical System with approximately 1,100 personnel in place today.  Another 400 on alert.  These medical personnel include the Disaster Medical Assistance Teams which can stand up ERs where places where ERs dont exist.  Medical Strike Teams who are mobile and do on the street assessments of individual health needs.  And, of course, our U.S. Public Health Service Rapid Deployment Force who will staff the shelters in the medical and special need population. 
 
Theyre moving into place in Florida, Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi to augment those State and local response efforts.  They will assist the state and other Federal personnel first with patient evacuations, medical support from the general population during the evacuation and then after landfall. 
 
We placed nine Federal medical stations, which are low intensity portable hospitals each with about 250 beds capacity on alert or on actual deployment.  There are caches of medical supply now in place in the Gulf region and we have additional caches that we can send if they need to go. 
 
This is for the general population.  Weve mentioned special needs medical populations because we are especially focused on those populations.  And there are some things that wed like to encourage people to do.  If you take medications regularly, take them with you if you evacuate.  And have a supply on hand if you decide that youre going to shelter in place.  Fill those prescriptions today because you may need them during this event.  And if you have special medical needs and you believe that you will need some assistance, be sure to let your local public health agency know who you are, where you are and what your concerns are.  We know that many of the counties and parishes in these effected states have already identified many of these individuals with special needs, but again we would encourage families and individuals to attend to the fact that this evacuation could be a challenge.  Thank you. 
 
Unidentified Male 1: 
  
 Good afternoon.  At the Department of Energy we take very seriously, throughout the day, serious weather poses to reliable energy supplies.  And that is certainly the case with two storms that were watching now.  With that said Im happy to report that the Department of Energy and the energy sector are better prepared than we have ever been to respond to significant weather events over the past couple of years. 
 
At the Department of Energy weve increased our manpower capability in both the analytical realm and in the operational realm.  Our technological tools are greatly enhanced.  We have better visualization capabilities to see in the energy systems.  And in the field our uh, personnel that deploy or are deployed now, have better communications capability, GPS and are able to work more cooperatively and tie in close with our headquarters elements. 
 
The Department of Energy, of course, oversees the strategic petroleum reserve.  The sprow[ph] is at 97 percent capacity.  This is a record amount of capacity.  As a result of this the Department is better prepared than ever before to respond to a significant petroleum event. 
 
Finally the energy sector is substantially more prepared for catastrophic events.  They have improved communications capabilities.  Theyve made significant modifications to their infrastructure.  They have redundant back up operations facilities.  And theyve established firm contractual arrangements for both equipment and services that can allow them to respond more quickly. 
 
So in uh, conclusion we, we feel that we are much better prepared than we were in 2005, to respond to weather events.  
 
Bill Irwin: 
  
 Good afternoon.  My name is (clears throat) Bill Irwin of the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers.  I worked with the FEMA partners here, at the National Response and Coordination Center.  As a key member of FEMAs unified team, the Corp. of Engineers is coordinating with our Federal, State and local partners throughout the Gulf region.  We have two areas that we are working with.  One is our support to FEMA under the staffers deck.  We receive mission assignments for such things as providing debris management, water.  We also provide temporary power to emergency  to critical facilities such as hospitals.  So were working very hard to provide that support to FEMA.  We have our planning response teams that weve developed to deploy and we have those on the road today and into tomorrow. 
We also have whats called the 249thEngineering Battalion which are  are energy experts that provide those installation of those critical generators to those critical facilities.  Also we are working with respect to New Orleans, Im sure as you are aware, since Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005 the New Orleans Hurricane Storm Damage Reduction System is stronger.  Its stronger than it was pre-Katrina.  We have floodwalls that are reinforced in numerous locations.  We have eyed the walls that have been replaced.  We have floodwalls that have been armored with rip wrap/raft.  And we have transition points between the, floodwalls and the levees that have been strengthened in 07. 
 
Much work has been accomplished.  The system improvement will not be completed until 2011.  (Clears throat)  As flood fighting measures, were working our state and local partners.  The Corp. of Engineers is in the process of placing some sand filled, flood fighting structures along a 1,800-foot section of the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal west floodwall.  And that will help alleviate some of the water pressure if the storm does hit in the New Orleans area. 
 
The Corp. also have 400 large sandbags, and Im talking about 4,000 to 7,000 pound sandbags that are filled and ready for use.  The Corp. has contractors in the area who are ready with heavy equipment such as dozers and trucks and cranes and we also have contracts with helicopter support.  The New Orleans District Commander and his team members are prepared to remain in the Command Bunker in New Orleans and ride out the storm so they can provide that Commander control after landfall if it does strike New Orleans. 
 This storm has a potential for being very dangerous, the storm as Admiral Johnson mentioned, so we strongly encourage the residents to follow the instructions of their local emergency management officials and be prepared to (clears throat) to evacuate as necessary.  Thank you.  
 
Rich Rowe[PH]: 
  
 Good afternoon.  Im uh, Rich Rowe and Im representing United States NorthCom.  NorthCom is closely monitoring Tropical Storm Gustav as well as Tropical Storm Hannah, which is in the Atlantic following an approach in the east coast, the Atlantic coast. 
 
And well continue to respond the request for Department of Defense support in preparation for landfall.  At this point United States NorthCom has activated four Defense Coordinating Officers and defense coordinating elements.  The lead two of those have been positioned in Austin, Texas and Baton Rouge, Louisiana with their Federal Emergency Management Agency counterparts and State counterparts in order to work support. 
 
The U.S. Northern Command provides unique Department of Defense capabilities for Disaster Response Operations in support of FEMA.  We work closely with State and local and National Guard Bureau officials to do that.   
 
I will highlight that there are three uh, military, active duty military installations that have been activated at FEMA National Logistic Staging Areas.  Those are at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama; Columbus Air Force Base in Mississippi and the Naval Air Station at Meridian [PH], Mississippi. 
 
The U.S. Northern Command has requested with the joint staff and will place on prepared to deploy orders that could take a matter of hours to days forces.  One of those capabilities and aero medical evacuation that will be worked through the United States Transportation Command in support of moving uh, patients as needed from the Texas and Louisiana strike area. 
 
The Brigade Combat Team that is the quick response force for our homeland right now and the active duty is the Second Brigade 10th Mountain at Fort Drum [PH].  They have been provided situational awareness and are on a prepare to deploy in the event that they should be required additionally fleet forces command in Northfolk, Virginia has uh, given direction to three amphibious ships.  The Baton, the Nassau and the Plontz[ PH] to be prepared to sortie[PH] in the event they are needed. 
 
Additionally there are under the Defense Support, this would be an authority standing execution order that has been prepared this year by the joint staff and issues to U.S. Northern Command additional communications, engineering aerial aviation incident assessment capabilities that based upon FEMA requirements could be provided.  Thank you. 
 
Armand Mecelli[PH]: 
  
 Good afternoon.  My name is Armand Mecelli.  And Im with the American Red Cross.  And uh, as the Red Cross is a non-government agency, Im also representing the other non-government agencies that are active in disaster response.  In terms of getting ready for the storm, our role is primarily to provide shelter and feeding as people are evacuated.  To that point, like the other organizations and agencies, weve been bringing supplies, material and equipment, into a four state area; Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, in anticipation of the evacuation orders that, will be given later this week. 
 
Our operation, our chapters work closely with local emergency management.  Evacuation orders are issued by local government, state government.  And then, the Red Cross working with the local emergency management will begin loading shelters as people evacuate.  And Ill be here to answer any questions as you may have them.  Thank you.  
 
Unidentified Male 1: 
  
 And now were ready to take your questions, beginning with those members of the media who are in the room.  I ask you to raise your hand, to identify yourself and your organization.  And then direct your question.  Yes, sir. 
 
Joe Camlick[PH]: 
  
 Joe Camlick, ISIS News.  I have a question with Mr. Gulliver [PH], from the Department of Energy.  In the wake of Katrina and Rita in 05, there was those three major pipelines that went down feeding crude and gasoline to the northeast, south and Midwest.  And Henry Hub Gas [I/U] went down as well with the flood.  All of those were some time getting back online.  Are they better  you mentioned in your  your remarks that theyre better prepared now.  But, I mean, all of these are above ground pipelines. How much can be done to harden sites like that?  Whats the status on [I/U]? 
 
Mr. Gulliver: 
  
 Well, the pipelines themselves are not above ground, the pumping stations are above ground.  We had an extraordinary situation in 2005.  The pipelines could respond to three pumping, the loss of electricity to three pumping stations.  They lost power to seven. 
 
But certainly a lesson learned for the company itself.  For the majors that supply that line and for the Federal government and the state governments.  Since then weve worked very closely with the pipelines to establish redundant operations facilities.  And they have a much better contractual, relationship with, countries that can provide generators.  They can quickly move those onsite if they lose power at those pumping stations. 
 
So while that, it was a very serious event and it certainly disrupted to a smaller extent the provision of gasoline in the Midwest and the east.  They are much more capable of responding to an emergency today. 
 
Joe Camlick: 
  
 And after gas(?) [I/U]? 
 
Mr. Gulliver: 
  
 Yes, certainly.  The same is true.  Both the onshore purchasers, the offshore platforms have much better communications capability.  Theyre baring pipelines deeper under the ocean, their platforms are better protected and are able to respond to violent weather or withstand violent weather much better than they were two years ago. 
 
Unidentified Male 1: 
  
 Next question, please?  Yes. 
 
Mike Collins[PH]: 
  
 Mike Collins with CNN.  Id like to ask uh, Admiral Johnson.  If  what, if any, requests for FEMA help, for Federal government help have governors made at this point?  Im talking about material and personnel and services. 
 
Admiral Johnson: 
  
 The governors have made requests for commodity support, for example.  We have provided food, water, blankets, cots and those types of things in the state of Mississippi, the state of Alabama, the state of Louisiana.  Theyve asked for help in opening shelters.  Uh, there are two shelters that uh, need to have increased shelter space in the stateof Louisiana.  They had two buildings, or empty shells of a building and FEMA is taking those shells and by eight oclock tomorrow morning those will be fully staffed with Red Cross support.  With other support fully staffed with medical care and security in those shelters. 
 
We are providing uh, a number of coordination assets to, for example, an area evacuation tomorrow morning, or will start tomorrow morning out of Louisiana to take up to 20,000 residents who need transportation assistance that will go to six different states.  They will arrive by aircraft.  They will be met by a host of Red Cross volunteers from those states and taken to shelters and then brought back after the storm. 
 
Well take a train tomorrow that will begin tomorrow at noon from New Orleans and go to Memphis, Tennessee.  Actually six trains over the course of two days to take 3,000 residents from New Orleans up to Memphis to be sheltered during the passage of the storm. 
 
So theres a range of support like that.  Commodities, transportation, sheltering, communication support that were able to provide from FEMA.  And like in FEMA, we join all of our partners here with HHS, with the Red Cross, with the National Guard, the Department of Energy.  All of our partners are part of that team and  and have something to do with each one of those. 
 
Unidentified Reporter 1: 
  
 I have to follow up.  When you talk about uh, states asking for food, water, blankets uh, in particular, are those the type of things that states should be able to provide for themselves three years after Hurricane Katrina.  I mean, these are fairly basic commodities predictable, in the event of a predictable hurricane.
 
Admiral Johnson: 
  
 Every state uh, every state is different.  In the state of Texas, for example, there was no request for commodity support and a range of other support.  Texas is a very large state.  A very capable state.  Other states have their various challenges in what they can provide. 
 
Every state is doing a significant amount to house their own residents and they are taking residents from neighboring states.  So to ask for water and food and commodity support isnt necessarily a sign of weakness, but its a sign that as they prioritize and put generators and other shelters online, thats yet still what they want from the Federal government. 
 
So theyre doing a lot.  Each state is really taking a lions share of their load and were filling in some gaps. 
 
Unidentified Reporter 1: 
  
 [I/U].  You mentioned medical evacuations are underway in some states.  Where are those happening?  Are they going to shelters?  And how many shelters does that add up in total? 
 
Unidentified Male 1: 
  
 Craig, I dont know if you want to  take that answer 
 
Craig Vanderwagon: 
  
 There are two  two types of medical evacuations that were concerned with.  One is people who actually are in a hospital facility.  As you may recall in Katrina, one of the challenges was how do you take people out of the hospital after the storms are going by.  So there are hospital evacuation requirements that are being addressed and General Rowe talked about the availability of TransCom to support that effort.  This is all a part of the National Disaster Medical Assistance activity.  The linkage of VA, the DOD, the HHS with the local folks to identify a destination hospital, for kids, for instance that are having cancer treatment, you want to send them to the hospital that has the right cancer treatment. 
 
So possible evacuation is one piece of it.  The second piece is the evacuation of individuals who live communities who may have disabilities that limit their ability to self evacuate.  I would say that Louisiana is leaning forward more aggressively on this than the other states are right now.  In part because theyve got Katrina on their minds tree years ago, a horrendous event.  And they are not going to let it happen again.  Its in a context of what they can control. 
 
So thereretwo classes of medical evacuation; hospital for critical care people and those who are at the community level. 
 
Unidentified Male 1: 
  
 Next question? 
 
Unidentified Reporter: 
  
 A question on the terms of logistics and the possibility to hurricanes [I/U] period.  From the different FEMA regions, moving different logistics, water generators, trucks, buses for evacuations, those kind of northern regions and being ready at depots and the intake centers down south.  Where are those going to be set up at those points? 
 
Unidentified Male: 
  
 I think part of your question is about Hannah as well as Gustav.  What were able to do with Hannah right now is while were in a large part, focused on Hurricane Gustav, what will be Hurricane Gustav, in Region IV in Atlanta, that covers the southeastern United States, their focused on Gustav, weve assigned a different FEMA region.  Regions III for Philadelphia will lead a multi agency team planning for Hannah. 
 
We have two planners from NorthCom who arrived today.  Planners from the National Guard.  Planners from other agencies who will join us in Atlanta in a separate cell just to focus on Hurricane, what could be Hurricane Hannah by this weekend.  So we dont want to lose sight of the primary threat while we know, and when you look at the weather service chart, you see both of those bulging uh, weather systems both on the same chart.  So we dont want to lose sight on that.   
 
Our primary logistic supports are typically in Atlanta, in Denton, Texas, Cumberland, Maryland.  But were drawn, when we look at FEMA logistics, we have what we call a National Logistics Concept where FEMA leads this.  But those logistics include DOA, GSA, it includes the American Red Cross that are NGOs.  And so its really not just FEMA bringing logistics to bear, its how do we reach across every day in the coordination meeting to bring the best resource from the closest place that can arrive at the safest time.  And so it really is a combined logistics for the Federal family. 
 
Unidentified Reporter: 
  
 [I/U] how much, whats currently  
 
Unidentified Male: 
  
 Sir, we can provide that to you separately.  Its tons and truckloads.  An awful lot of food, water and MREs, all of that is being provided.  We can provide that to you separately. 
 
Mike Collins: 
  
 Again, Mike Collins with CNN.  After Hurricane Rita, one of the takeaways from the uh, post mortems [PH] was that some of the service stations in the areas did not have generators.  Secretary Chertoff [PH] sent a letter to the CEOs of all the major oil companies saying that they have a civic responsibility to make sure that service stations had generators so that all of the trucks, the utility trucks and all that are trying to restore power to be fueled so that they can restore the power. 
 
Has there been any survey of whether these oil companies have, in fact, done that? 
 
Unidentified Male: 
  
 Secretary Chertoff sent that letter to governors and its a state responsibility to determine what their level of preparedness is.  In the state of Florida, for example, you can go online in Florida and go to a website, their emergency management website and get a pictorial of which area, which gas stations and which food stations have generators.  And uh, know that theyre going to continue to provide  to provide fuel and food post disaster. 
 
In other states they havent passed laws that require that, but what weve provided with the help of the Corp. of Engineers and the National Guard, hundreds of generators, almost in each state, that are going to uh, uh, back up supplies like that in order to make sure that, you know, food can be available, fuel can be available.  Schools can serve as shelters.  And so were providing generators to make sure that will work. 
 
Each state has a fuel plan, for example, Texas replied today in their briefing about how well they are prepared at looking at the fuel  having stations fuel up.  Have generators.  And then they also are able to provide fuel through their own vehicles and emergency vehicles as they get clogged here with commuters over the next  evacuees over the next several days. 
 
So every state has a fuel plan and are primarily focused on those evacuations tomake sure that cars dont run out of gas, or if they do, they can fuel them up and keep them going on the evacuation routes.  So weve all taken a little bit of a different approach, Florida is one in this spectrum, perhaps, but theyve all taken that to heart learning that lesson. 
 
Unidentified Male 1: 
  
 Phil, after your question, well give you the next question after that, well try to take one from the telephone. 
 
Unidentified Reporter: 
  
 That was my question.   
 
Unidentified Male 1: 
  
 Oh, well, then good.  Then let me ask, Operator?  Do we have anyone on the line that would like to ask a question?  And if so could you have them identify their name and organization? 
 
Operator: 
  
 Yes.  At this time if you would like to ask a question please press star, then one on your touch-tone phone.  Our first question comes from Spencer Sheu [PH] of the Washington Post. 
 
Spencer Sheu: 
  
 Thanks.  Admiral Johnson, you mentioned all states will begin evacuations tomorrow.  Can you uh, outline which states and how many people you expect to be affected?  And then a follow up  theres been talk in the past about pre-scripted preparations and mission assignments and there have been a couple of areas that people have been concerned about.  One was housing and the other was law and order.  Can you talk about what actions have been taken so far and what actions you anticipate taking before landfall in those two areas? 
 
Admiral Johnson: 
  
 Okay, in terms of evacuations, for example uh, in Alabama uh, theyll  theyll begin voluntary evacuations on Saturday.  Mandatory evacuations along the coast on Sunday.  In Mississippi, mandatory evacuations on Sunday, again voluntary on Saturday. 
 
In Louisiana, they actually began some medical evacuations, primarily from nursing homes today.  Theyll do uh, the critical care patients starting at noon tomorrow.  And they will again, tourists were asked to leave today.  And mandatory and on uh, Saturday, late Saturday and Sunday, Contra flows begin on Sunday. 
 
In Texas along the coast, theyve actually begun self-evacuation with medical patients.  As Dr. Vanderwagon mentioned those who can transport themselves that have medical issues today and area/air [PH] evacuations begin on Sunday morning. 
 
So, as you can see, each state is looking at the approach of the storm, approach of onset of tropical storm force winds, which is about 24 hours in advance of the eye of the storm.  And most evacuations start, some today, most voluntary on Saturday.  A mandatory decision will be made on Sunday.   We expect that typically, for example, aircraft stop flying about uh, about 12 hours in advance of the eye of the arrival.  So we have until about Sunday afternoon, late Sunday, to complete these evacuations. 
 
Were tracking each one of those in our National Response Coordination Center that I just left individually by state to look at the pace of those evacuations.  And if we need to provide some assistance after well be able to do it. 
 
In terms of safety and security, we have what we call emergency support functions.  Its the way our National Response System is organized.  And ESF13 [PH] is law enforcement, public safety and security.  The ATF handles  theyre the primary coordination agency for ESF13.  And their reaching of the states now and asking the states if they have any shortfalls, expected shortfalls for security. 
 
In the state of Louisiana, for example, the National Guard currently patrols the streets to augment the police force and out are about 3,000 National Guardsmen that will be active in the state of Louisiana, some number of those, General Etter, are security specifically.  Seventeen hundred of that 3,000 will be security forces.  And again the intent, the lesson learned from Katrina, security forces in advance of arrival.  Make sure that people feel confident that their homes can be safe as they evacuate and encourage people to evacuate.  So states have looked at these lessons learned, Spencer, from Katrina.  And I think we have good, theyve each taken good progressive actions in response. 
 
Unidentified Male 1: 
  
 Operator, can we have the next question? 
 
Spencer Sheu: 
  
 Just a follow-up on having their account or a number of accountsof people on evacuation? 
 
Unidentified Male 1: 
  
 Im sorry.  Is that Spencer again? 
 
Spencer Sheu: 
  
 Im sorry.  Just a quick follow up.  Can you address the housing question?  And also with the evacuation, is there a count of people that might be affected by evacuation orders? 
 
Unidentified Male 1: 
  
 If you can address the housing question.  If there is a count of a number of people that could be affected by the evacuation order? 
 
Admiral Johnson: 
  
 Well, I think that probably along the coast, therere more than 240,000 households in the state of Louisiana, for example, along the coast.  They call could be effected by either the mandatory or the voluntary evacuation order.  I dont know exactly the number of all the other states.  I mean we [I/U] a little bit more on planning in Louisiana, it will be a huge number. 
 
You know, there were several hundred thousand households evacuated in Katrina.  And this storm is going much in the same direction.  We have  weve announced a disaster housing plan early in the summer.  How we would approach housing if there was a need for additional housing post disaster.  And that includes taking advantage of all the existing resources in place, hotels and motels, rental units, apartment complexes, use those to the maximum extent possible.  If we need to bring additional housing we have mobile homes and what we call park models, that are a version of a travel trailer that are ready to bring in any of these states. 
 
We have more than 1,000 units now that have been tested for formaldehyde.  Theyre safe and secure units that could be brought to bear if, in fact, theyre needed at any particular state for follow on housing. 
 
Unidentified Male 1: 
  
 Operator, can we go to the next question, please? 
 
Operator: 
  
 Yes.  Our next question comes from Darryl Hughes[PH] of Dow Jones Newswire: 
 
Darryl Hughes: 
  
 How are you guys doing?  This question for Kevin at the Department of Energy.  Um, I wanted to know the latest regarding the strategic petroleum reserve.  I know you talked a bit about it being at 90 percent capacity.  And I wanted to know if in the event the oil supply is affected by the storm, how much could be released? 
 
KEVIN(?): 
  
 The sprow(?) stands at a record 727 million barrels of capacity.  It can be released at a rate of about 4.4 million barrels a day, which is better than three times greater uh, than the rate of production out of the Gulf itself.  Its a record level because we kept with the fill towards the capacity of 727, were better able to respond to an oil disruption scenario than we ever had been before. 
 
Darryl Hughes: 
  
 Do you know how much could be released? 
 
KEVIN(?): 
  
 Well, it could be  it could be released at a rate of 4.4 million barrels a day for, well, for the duration of the event or I guess until you tapped the capacity in the sprow.  But that would certainly take a very long time. 
 
Darryl Hughes: 
  
 Thank you. 
 
Unidentified Male 1: 
  
 We only have a few minutes left.  Can we go to the next question, please? 
 
Operator: 
  
 Yes, our next question is from Jeff Blitz[PH] of Bloomberg News.
 
Jeff Blitz: 
  
 Hi.  And Im sorry if Im asking something thats been repeated.  I had to go off the call for a second.  But do you  - can you tell me how many beds are being prepared in shelters in other states for the evacuees?  And also on the trailers.  You said that you can bring in some.  Do you have a number on that?  And also um, I know that uh, Governor Barber[PH] has talked about the evacuation of the trailers in his state.  Can you tell me a little bit about the evacuation of FEMA trailers in other states? 
 
Admiral Johnson: 
  
 Okay.  I dont have the total number of uh, of evacuation shelter spaces in all of the states.  We typically plan for, for example, in the middle of the Gulf Coast.  If this storm goes to Louisiana, we expect that uh, 125,000 families, households, will have to leave Louisiana, the southern coast of Louisiana, and find shelter. 
 
About 68,000 of those have found shelter inside the state and the remainder will be transferred outside the state to find shelters.  And theyre going to go to their neighboring states, as you would imagine, in Alabama, Mississippi and Texas, primarily.  And then we will actually fly some to other states a little bit further away. 
 
In terms of the trailers, uh, we had about 100,000 households in trailers right after uh, Katrina.  That number is down to about 10,100 uh, of mobile homes and travel trailers in the Gulf Coast that are  now people still reside in those from Hurricane Katrina.  So the number is greatly reduced.  For the last six months weve had a huge focus on moving households, closing group sites in Louisiana and Mississippi, moving households into rental units and more permanent housing all focused on this summer not having that many uh, occupied travel trailers for the hurricane season.  That is not a great place to be. 
 
All of the states that cooperated in that, uh, they are all also working to uh, have families move into rental units and other forms of housing.  As you know, in Louisiana and Mississippi people have gotten money from the state, wrote home for money and they fixed their house and they moved back into their home.  And so we dont have anywhere near this year as compared to last year or the year before the number of households that still reside in travel trailers.  That might be certainly back to very early in the face of another hurricane. 
 
Jeff Blitz: 
  
 I just want to follow up.  Those people are going to be evacuated?  Or have been?  Or what? 
 
Admiral Johnson: 
  
 Well, of course, theyre a part of the evacuation plan.  So if they reside in a FEMA managed mobile home or travel trailer, we will contact every single one of those 10,100 and encourage them very strongly to be a part of the evacuation that their neighborhood is taking part of.  So we dont want to have any of those people stay. 
 
I would just caution again that uh, you know, these are all fastened down.  Its not like these mobile homes are going to blow around.  Theyre just like in a commercial park.  Theyve been cinched to the ground with all the requirements for security.  But the families need to evacuate.  And they are being encouraged to do that as are those others in neighborhoods where they live. 
 
Unidentified Male 1: 
  
 Operator, we have only time for one last question, please. 
 
Operator: 
  
 Okay.  Our final question comes from Pam Fesler[PH] of National Public Radio. 
 
Pam Fesler: 
  
 Yes, Admiral Johnson, just two quick questions.  And that is you mentioned that the 20,000 people in Louisiana youre starting to take out and take them to six different states.  Im just curious, what six states?  And also, when you talk about the mandatory evacuations on Sunday, is that what you anticipate?  Or is that what you have ordered? 
 
Admiral Johnson: 
  
 Ill answer the last question first.  Evacuations responsibility of the states.  The states work with their counties, their parishes and the local officials that must make those calls for evacuation.  So in coordination with the states, they information they provide to us is that they are institution mandatory evacuations, most of them on Sunday.  And those are decisions being coordinated between the governors of the states and, again, those local elected officials who are charged with the primary responsibility to make those decisions. 
 
So well be following that through and insuring that the decisions were made at the right time.  And we have every indication that those elected officials will be able to do that. 
 
In terms of evacuation by air, and again, thats evacuation by personal transportation, by bus, by rail and by air.  But in air well fly people to Texas, potentially to New Mexico, who offered some space today.  To Tennessee.  To Kentucky.  And  and one more  Arkansas.  So those are the locations that were going to take people.  I dont have the numbers in front of me as to how many will go to each state.  Its about 10,000 potentially to Texas.  Probably I think its about 2,000 or 3,000 to Arkansas.  Uh, 2,000 to Kentucky.  And, again, wed give you these exact numbers, but these states have agreed to have worked with FEMA.  They have agreed to provide shelter spaces.  They have agreed to manage these evacuees from the point they land at an airport, to a shelter and then get them back to their home after the storm passes.  So I really commend these states for volunteering to reach out and provide their services available to help out the state of Louisiana and to help FEMA in consolidating and completing these evacuations. 
 
 
  
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