TSA is Prepared for Hurricane Season
News & Happenings
June 5, 2007
While June marks the return of tourists to America's beaches, it also brings the threat of hurricanes to the Gulf Coast and eastern U.S. While we hope for a safe and calm hurricane season, TSA is prepared to play an integral role in the Department of Homeland Security's preparation and response to hurricanes.
Specifically, TSA must be able to quickly increase staffing levels and rapidly deploy transportation security officers (TSOs) in order to supplement law enforcement activities and provide an air evacuation alternative to victims of natural disasters.
This "surge" capacity was on prominent display after Hurricane Katrina struck in August 2005. TSOs from across the country traveled to the Gulf Coast to help evacuate storm victims. Those TSOs helped provide efficient and practical air evacuation, allowing 22,000 people in New Orleans alone to be removed from harm's way.
TSA has several resources to respond to natural disasters, including:
- Visual Intermodal Prevention and Response (VIPR) teams. These are used to secure a variety of transportation environments including mass transit, rail and bus systems. VIPR teams are made up of federal air marshals, TSOs, TSA-certified canine teams and surface transportation security inspectors.
- Nine Transportation Security Advance Teams.
- 24 Transportation Security Forward Teams totaling more than 700 members.
- 30 volunteers from Florida, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Arizona and New York State who are trained on emergency high frequency radio equipment that can be used during a weather emergency when other communications methods are unavailable.
TSA focuses its hurricane preparedness efforts on the 50 airports most likely to be threatened by hurricanes. By preparing year-round, TSA helps DHS ensure that when a hurricane strikes, it is ready to respond quickly and effectively.
